Quinton de Kock roared back to form with an aggressive fifty as Mumbai Indians secured a convincing win against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2021 clash in Delhi.
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Before the IPL 2021 match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, Quinton de Kock was asked about his poor batting. He just replied, “Just a matter of rectifying it. Batting has been a bit slow so far. The keeping has been normal, nothing too bad yet.” The quiet confidence Quinton de Kock had rubbed off in Delhi. De Kock’s 70 and his 63-run stand with Krunal Pandya laid the base for Mumbai Indians’ crucial win against Rajasthan Royals.
The batting performance was a continuation of the momentum that the bowlers had built for Mumbai Indians. After a blazing start by the likes of Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sanju Samson, Mumbai Indians pulled things back. Jasprit Bumrah ending with brilliant figures of 1/15 in four overs. In the last 10 overs, Rajasthan Royals managed just 80 runs and Mumbai Indians managed to get there.
The total of 172 was a middling total at the Arun Jaitley stadium in this day game. De Kock was aggressive on Mustafizur Rahman, thumping him for a four and a six. The South African hit another six off Morris but Rohit Sharma’s woes continued as he perished for 14.
Suryakumar Yadav started confidently with two fours off Rahul Tewatia. De Kock neared his fifty with two fours off Jaydev Unadkat. Morris kept Rajasthan Royals in the game with the wicket of Suryakumar but de Kock notched up his fifty off 34 balls. Krunal Pandya got a promotion and for a couple of overs, Rajasthan Royals kept Mumbai Indians quiet.
However, Krunal broke the shackles with a six each off Tewatia and Mustafizur. Mumbai Indians seemed to be cruising but the Bangladesh pacer dismissed Krunal for a superb 39 off 26 balls. But, Kieron Pollard hammered a six and four off Morris and Mumbai Indians ensured their losing streak against Rajasthan Royals would be snapped.
Perhaps, Rajasthan Royals would have rued the fact that they did not get enough runs in the back 10 overs of their innings. At the start, Buttler and Jaiswal struggled for timing. In the space of four balls, Buttler had three chances. He survived a catch and a missed run-out in two consecutive balls of the fourth over bowled by Bumrah. In the first ball of Jayant Yadav’s over, Buttler slogged across the line but the leading edge evaded Chahar at backward point who could not latch on.
In that same over, Buttler got a bit of his timing back as he creamed a four and a six off Yadav. Jaiswal joined in the fun by hammering Nathan Coulter-Nile for a four through extra cover and a six over deep midwicket. Buttler rattled Yadav with another six as Mumbai Indians were guilty of bowling too short. Chahar was greeted for another six by the England player but on 41, Buttler missed the slog and was stumped.
The Mumbai Indians bowlers continued to bowl short and Samson got going with two fours off Krunal Pandya. Jaiswal launched Chahar’s googly for another six but the bowler had his revenge a couple of balls later.
Mumbai Indians seemed to have kept the middle overs slightly quiet despite Dube and Samson hitting a few boundaries. Rajasthan Royals looked to go for the big total. In the 16th over bowled by Trent Boult, Samson thumped him for two fours. However, Bumrah was simply too good on the day and Rajasthan Royals ultimately ended up with a total that was below-par.
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