Mumbai Indians showed all the jittery nerves of a team without a win in eight games but managed to beat Rajasthan Royals by five-wickets in their IPL match against the Rajasthan Royals at the DY Patil Sports Academy Ground in Mumbai on Saturday.
Jos Buttler once again top-scored for Rajasthan but with an unusually subdued innings of 67 from 52 balls as they finished with a modest total of 158-6 but Mumbai, led by Suryakumar Yadav’s 51, finished on 159-5 for their first victory of the tournament.
With just four runs required from the final over Kieron Pollard (10) heaved a catch to Daryl Mitchell at deep square-leg but new batter Daniel Sams was more successful with his first delivery pulling it many metres over the fielder’s head to win the match with for balls to spare.
Rohit Sharma (2) top-edged a sweep against Ravichandran Ashwin and Ishan Kishan’s brisk 26 from 18 balls ended with a top-edged hook to ‘keeper Sanju Samson off Kiwi left-armer Trent Boult to give Mumbai a shakey start.
But Suryakumar Yadav’s 51 from 39 balls (5×4, 2×6) and Tilak Varma’s 35 put the run-chase back on track until both suffered brain-fades
On a difficult pitch offering grip for the spinners and uneven pace Buttler struggled to 38 from 44 balls with just four fours with six overs to go but then burst into life smashing the first four deliveries of the 16th over from offspinner Hrithik Shokeen for six between long-off and midwicket.
The fifth ball was a dot ball Buttler finally miscued one when the final ball was lofted to Suryakumar Yadav at long off. Buttler finished with five fours and four sixes while 22-year-old Shokeen finished with a chastening analysis of 2-47 from just three overs.
Opener Devdutt Padikkal (15) provided Shokeen with his first wicket with a swipe to long on and captain Sanju Samson struck a pair of sixes in his 16 from just seven balls before pulling a long-hop from debutant left-arm wrist spinner Kumar Kartikeya (4-0-19-1) to deep midwicket.
Kiwi allrounder Mitchell struggled in the conditions limping to 17 from 20 balls before splicing a length ball from Australian Daniel Sams to cover but Ravichandran Ashwin had no difficulty with his timing smashing three fours and a six in his timely 21 from nine balls in the closing overs.
Big-hitting Guyanese batter, Shimron Hetmyer, endured a frustrating sojourn at the crease failing to hit a single boundary in his miserable six not out from 14 balls as Riley Meredith (4-0-24-2) conceded just three runs in the final over.
High-flying Rajasthan remain second on the log with 12 points and six wins from their nine matches while Mumbai, having endured the worst start in IPL history with eight consecutive losses, finally have their first two points.