Mumbai Indians registered their sixth win of the season as they defeated Rajasthan Royals by 8 wicets in an IPL 2021 tie. Mumbai chased down the target of 91 runs in just 8.2 over with power batting from Ishan Kishan who scored a 25-ball 50-run and remained not out.
Earlier while bowling first, MI bowlers have had an amzing show with the ball as they restricted Rajasthan Royals batters to 90/9 in 20 overs. Nathan Coulter Nile was the best bowler from MI with his figures of 4/14, while Jimmy Neesham picked up 3 wickets on his return to the side and Jasprit Bumrah got two wickets.
Coulter Nile was also the player of the match for his oustanding bowling performance.
“Just tried to keep it simple. Was a tough wicket to bat on. Just tried to change the pace a little. It was sticking a little. I am not fussed when I am bowled. There are world class bowlers in our side and hope they can pick a few more and I will have my job easier,”said Coulter Nile in post match presentation.
“We had to come here and do what we had to do. The two points were very crucial for us. Once we had them bowled out for 90, we had a chance to finish it early. It is important to seize the game. We had to come out and bat freely. We had a chance to get the run rate in order. Was a perfect game for us. He (Kishan) is playing after a couple of games. I was there to take the risks. We know his ability. We wanted him to spend some time and that is exactly what he did. You got to ask Jimmy (James Pamment – Mumbai’s fielding coach) if wants to do another one (pep talk). He loves talking to us, he’s a great character to have in the squad. Solid guy, keeps the atmosphere buzzing all the time in the squad group and that is something that is necessary. We were not playing well in terms of where we would have liked to, so you need those kind of talks from someone like him. It was important for us to just get going. That actually got all the guys going. When you’re under the radar, sometimes it’s important that you come out and do the job nice and quiet. We’ve been on and off this season. We’ve been doing well, we’ve been preparing well, it’s just that collectively we were not coming together but today was a good example. All the bowlers came together, used the conditions really well and then the batters finished it off. I feel in this tournament, any team is capable of beating anyone. KKR is playing before us and we will know exactly what to do,” said winning skipper Rohit Sharma.
With this win, Mumbai Indians surged to the fifth spot in the points tally with 12 points in the bag but still they need to win their next game against SunRisers Hyderabad and depend on other matches for playoff qualification. Rajasthan are also not totally out of the playoff race they too need to win their next fixture and depend on other teams result in order to qualify.