Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Riyan Parag extended Rajasthan Royals’ winning run, and in the process sullied Mumbai Indians’ quest for their first points of the season. Rajasthan Royals – led by superb performances from Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal and Riyan Parag – gave them a thorough hammering to move to No. 1 on the points table with a hat-trick of victories.
Trent Boult lightning strike in the opening overs ruined Hardik Pandya’s return to the Wankhede Stadium as Mumbai Indians captain was far from a fairy tale, as the five-time champions lost their third game in a row, this time with 27 balls to spare.
Pitch and Toss
It’s pitch number 7. 63m and 65m square boundaries respectively, 74m down the ground. This surface wasn’t used last year, the two tracks adjacent to it were used. If you bat first, you need to score big here. It’s a red soil pitch, looks great and has a generous covering of grass. You are going to see a lot of runs. Spinners won’t be effective, reckons Brian Lara. A lot of runs were scored at this venue last year, could well be the same case this season.
Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl. RR included Nandre Burger in place of injured Sandeep Sharma.
Mumbai Indians skipper Hardik Pandya’s return to Wankhede in MI colors had his team batting first to face threatening Trent Boult brought in Akash Madhwal for Shams Mulani.
Trent Boult messes up MI in the PowerPlay
Trent Boult the New Zealand pacer did what he does best – picking a wicket in the first over of the innings. Trent Boult , went a step further to pick two as he had Rohit Sharma caught behind, and then trapped Naman Dhir leg before. With that, Trent Boult took his tally of first-over wickets in the IPL to 25. The enormity of this feat is established by the fact that no other bowler has picked more than eight.
Burger didn’t stop at being just an ally to picking wickets as he joined in on the fun to send Ishan Kishan packing with a perfect length ball. The left-hander tried to push at it but couldn’t middle it and ended up nicking it behind to Sanju Samson.
Rohit had all the support from the crowd, who chanted his name even as they booed Hardik, but his time with the bat lasted only one ball when Trent Boult got one to swing away from him and get him to edge it behind. Next ball, Trent Boult swung it the other way, getting a full ball to nip into Dhir.
With two wickets gone inside the game’s first six balls, Mumbai brought in impact sub Brevis in the second over itself, but he too fell prey to the ball angling across, edging it to Nandre Burger at short third. With three wickets in his first eight deliveries of the game, Trent Boult gave Royals an advantage that they never let go.
Trent Boult left Mumbai gasping within minutes of the start of the match when he dismissed Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis for first-ball ducks in his first eight balls. His 3 for 22 was only matched by the 3 for 11 taken by Chahal, who controlled the middle overs to ensure Mumbai did not stage a batting comeback.
Skipper Hardik Pandya to MI rescue after a horrible start.
Hardik Pandya’s stint as MI captain at the Wankhede began with the home fans booing him at the toss. Such was the extent of their displeasure, that it invoked a rather awkward intervention from Sanjay Manjrekar at the toss, asking the fans to ‘behave’.
Hardik walked out to bat in the fourth over and slapped a couple of fours off Burger in the sixth. 29 runs came in the three overs after the PowerPlay, with 18 off them coming from the MI skipper in just 10 balls. Hardik fell to Yuzvendra Chahal when he mistimed a big hit to long on, falling for 34 off 21, 24 of which came in boundaries.
Scintillating Chahal chokes MI middle order to restrict MI to 125 for 9 at Wankhede.
Avesh Khan and Burger conceded just three runs off the 18th and 19th over, before Jasprit Bumrah put away a short ball in the final over to push MI just past 120. A late wicket for Avesh Khan and a second for Burger ensured Mumbai finished on 125 for 9, a score too low on a surface that is traditionally batting-friendly.
Aakash Madhwal comes good on season debut
MI’s 17-year-old fast bowler Kwena Maphaka got his first wicket – of Yashaswi Jaiswal in the opening over. With so little to defend, Hardik Pandya used his ace Jasprit Bumrah for half the overs in the PowerPlay, but the RR duo of Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler just about escaped unscathed. Akash Madhwal though, did the damage on either side of the PowerPlay. He first had Samson playing one on and then Buttler top-edging a short ball to Chawla at fine leg. At 48/3, the game felt well and truly alive.
Only wickets could save Mumbai after that batting effort, and they played their trump card early when Jasprit Bumrah shared the new ball, with Kwena Maphaka, for the first time this season. But even though Bumrah bowled three of the six powerplay overs, the Royals batters did not give a wicket away to him. Yashaswi Jaiswal fell to Maphaka in the first over itself, while the other three wickets went to Akash Madhwal, playing his first game of IPL 2024.
Madhwal struck with the second ball of his spell when he got Sanju Samson to chop on to his stumps, and added a second when Jos Buttler pulled him to fine leg. He added a third later, in the 13th over, when Ashwin sent a leading edge off a short delivery to point. Madhwal was the standout bowler for Mumbai Indians with 3 for 20.
Riyan Parag’s form continues as RR cruise to comfortable 6 wickets win.
Riyan Parag, RR’s most recent batting constant, brought his calmness and confidence to the middle and steered his side out of the early chaos. He started by upper-cutting a short ball from Gerald Coetzee over the ‘keeper, and then pulled another for consecutive fours. With the asking rate under six, he and the promoted R Ashwin didn’t take any risks to push the scoring ahead.
They brought the equation down to 38 off 48 when Madhwal returned to pick his third of the night. A leading edge off Ashwin’s bat ballooned up on the off-side where Tilak Varma got under it for a simple catch.
Parag however, carried on gnawing at the target smartly. He put away a full ball from Bumrah in his fourth over but played out the rest of it in the company of impact substitute and debutant Shubham Dubey. He then slog-swept Chawla for a six, before wrapping up the chase with 6, 6, 4 off Coetzee, finishing with an unbeaten 54 off 39 balls.
Presentations and Road Ahead.
Hardik Pandya the loosing skipper said : Yes, a tough night, we didn’t start the way we wanted to start. I wanted to counter, we were in a decent position to get us around 150-160, but my wicket allowed them to get back more into the game, I needed to do a lot more. It’s okay, we didn’t expect such a surface, but you can’t always have it as a batter, it’s nice at times for the bowlers to have a say.
It’s all about doing the right things, (correct) results happen at times, at some other times it doesn’t. As a group, we believe we can do a lot better, but we need to be a bit more disciplined and show a lot more courage.
Sanju Samson the winning skipper said : I think the toss was the game changer. The wicket was too sticky to start off, and the experience of Boult and Burger helped us. He’s playing since 10-15 years, and that is what we expected with the new ball. Didn’t expect 4-5 wickets to fall, but we knew our bowlers would do well.
We know we have big individuals in our team, but where we stand out is everyone recognizes their role, does it and moves on. The likes of Ash and Chahal realised we had a good powerplay, and they kept it tight without really looking for wickets. (On Chahal) I think he was really fired up for this IPL, and he’s been doing well for the past 2-3 years for us.
Trent Boult won Player of the Match award for his 3 wickets said : (On first over wickets) Never a certainty in this format, but happy to fill my role and take wickets with the new ball. We won the toss, did what we spoke about, got a couple of wickets and put the pressure on the batters. (On Rohit Sharma wicket) I’ve played against him a lot, and it is just about doing something different against him.
Doesn’t always work this way, but happy when it does. Nandre has been a great find, wears his heart on his chest like a lot of SA bowlers do. Sandy has been doing well, although he missed out today. Ash and Chahal always chip in as well. Good to be part of this bowling unit.
Rajasthan chase this down on a canter after a bit of stutter in the powerplay. Once again, it is Riyan Parag who has been their star with the bat, he’s really turned a new leaf this season. Showing a lot more responsibility, maturity and ability, the 22-year-old boy has taken Rajasthan home with more than 4 overs to spare!! The game however was set up by their bowlers, as Boult struck thrice in the powerplay, and then Chahal and Burger got amongst the wickets to reduce Mumbai to a total of just 125.
In reply, Jaiswal’s lean start to the season continued, as he chipped one straight to covers. Samson fell cheaply as well, chopping one onto his stumps against Madhwal, who struck again to dismiss Buttler. RR were a bit shacky at 48/3 but last game’s dup of Ashwin and Parag stabilized the ship and got the visitors home. A spirited bowling effort from Mumbai, but they were always a few runs short on this ground.
So Rajasthan maintain their 100% record in the IPL. Their investments from the past are all coming good now, particularly Riyan Parag. And their success shows the value of a settled core for a franchise tournament. Things are looking in the ‘pink of health’ for Sanju Samson and co. MI will stay back in Mumbai and try again to break their duck when they host Delhi Capitals on April 7. RR head home to take on RCB on April 6.