The last match of the league stages in the ongoing Indian Premier League saw Mumbai Indians outplay Rajasthan Royals in almost all the departments. Royals won the toss and elected to bat first.

Their start wasn’t great but a solid performance by the middle order took them to a score of 162.
Royals have never lost a match after scoring 160 runs and Mumbai batsmen had a tough battle to fight. But luck favored the Mumbai openers and they got off to a good start. Some wayward bowling and bad fielding saw Mumbai chase down the target without losing any wickets.

Let’s have a look at hits and flops from either side.

Rajasthan Royals:

Hits:

Shane Watson: He has played well since his arrival and yesterday was no different. Watson looked comfortable at the crease and hit some lust blows. He was the top scorer for Royals with 45 runs which included four boundaries and two sixes. He was also the most economical bowler for Royals.

Stuart Binny: Binny has played some quite little innings in the tournament and he played one against Mumbai Indians. Binny took the attack to Harbhajan and hit him for two sixes and two fours in one over. He scored a quick fire 30 before getting run out in the most unusual manner.

Flops:

Openers: Dravid and Rahane have been the most successful opening pair in the tournament, but both the batsmen played bad shots to get out. Dravid flashed at a wide delivery and Rahane played a bad pull sot to get out. 

Shaun Tait: He started the tournament but has been ver7y ordinary from the past couple of matches. Tait was very wayward and bowled six wides in his spell. He conceded at an economy rate of 10 per over. Rajasthan after posting a descent total would have hoped for a good spell from Tait, but that didn’t happen.

Mumbai Indians:

Hits:

Dhawal Kulkarni: He was playing his first match of the season and he performed brilliantly. He bowled at a good pace and swung the ball well. He took the important wickets of Dravid and Rahane and bowled a wicket maiden as well. He gave away only 18 runs in four overs and took three wickets. It will be very difficult to ignore him against Chennai in the playoffs.

Dwayne Smith: He was promoted up the order and he played a brilliant innings to take Mumbai home. Smith is an attacking batsman and he took the charge straight away. He along with Sachin Tendulkar put off the record of the highest opening partnership in all the IPL’s.

Sachin Tendulkar: He needed a good innings before the playoffs and he did exactly that. Sachin got lucky on quite a few occasions but he fought through that to put up the record partnership with Smith. The innings will give him a lot of confidence going into the playoffs.

Flops:

Harbhajan Singh: He once again had a bad outing as Binny took him to the cleaners in his first over. Harbhajan has struggled in the tournament and his team will be worried about their captain’s form. Harbhajan has to get his act together before the all important match against Chennai.

Lasith Malinga: He has won Mumbai many matches, but his recent form will be a worrying factor for his team. Malinga has picked only two wickets in the last five matches and that is not what you associate with a bowler of his class. He conceded 32 runs in his four overs and was picked for quite a few boundaries.




By Gaurav Jha

Indian Sports News