Ishan Kishan played a classy knock as he scored 50 runs off just 25 deliveries in an innings that comprised five boundaries and three sixes.
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Wicketkeeper batter Ishan Kishan powered the Mumbai Indians (MI) to an extremely comfortable victory over the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday. RR could only score 90-9 in their 20 overs and the defending champions made 94-2 in just 8.4 overs. The victory takes them to fifth place, level on points with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with just one more match for each franchise to go. Kishan made a magnificent half-century as the RR bowling unit could not handle the skill and class of the youngster. The victory also helped the net run rate of the defending champions that had taken a severe hit after a couple of heavy defeats a few weeks ago when the tournament was restarted.
There was not really any pressure on the MI batters so they could play their natural game. Kishan opened the innings with skipper Rohit Sharma who scored 22 runs off just 13 deliveries. The cameo included one boundary and a couple of maximums. Suryakumar Yadav came out to bat next but he could not get many runs on the board as he made 13 runs off eight balls. His form will certainly be a concern for the men in blue going forward. Hardik Pandya was there at the end when MI won the match along with Kishan. Pandya did not have to do much as he scored five runs from six balls.
The star, however, was Ishan Kishan. He played a fantastic knock, scoring 50 runs off just 25 deliveries. The innings comprised five boundaries and three maximums. It was an absolute masterclass of T20 batting and he will be looking to take his good run of form ahead.
For the Royals, things could not have been more woeful. Neither department performed well on the day. Chetan Sakariya picked up the wicket of Rohit Sharma for the men in pink. The youngster conceded 36 runs in three overs. Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman was the other wicket-taker for the Royals. He dismissed Suryakumar Yadav and conceded 32 runs in 2.2 overs.
The MI pacers did an excellent job on the day for Rohit Sharma. Coulter-Nile was the standout bowler, taking four wickets in four overs while conceding only 14 runs. Neesham was also a standout, taking three wickets in four overs while conceding only 12 runs. Bumrah was also present among the wickets, as is customary. The Indian pacer took two wickets and allowed only 14 runs in four overs. He is now third on the list of top wicket-takers this season, trailing only Harshal Patel and Avesh Khan.
On the day, the RR batting lineup appeared to be in disarray. They got off to a decent start thanks to openers Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who have both been in good form recently. Lewis scored 24 runs off 19 balls, while Jaiswal scored 12 off nine. However, the men in pink could not capitalize. Sanju Samson, the skipper, was unable to put any pressure on the bowlers, scoring only three runs. David Miller and Rahul Tewatia also scored in double figures, but the pace was simply too slow. Miller scored 15 runs off 23 balls, while Tewatia scored 12 off 20.
