Match Review-Mumbai Indians Vs Rajasthan Royals-Match No.45-Dream 11 IPL 2020

 Welcome to another match review and if you haven't read the match review of the first game of the double headers then, please click the following link.  Match Review-Royal Challengers Bangalore Vs Chennai Super Kings-Match No.44-Dream 11 IPL. 

All Right then, let us get to the match review of the second game of the double headers on sunday.  It is the Mumbai Indians who took on the Rajasthan Royals at their home ground, Abu Dhabi.  So now let us get to the toss.

1.  The Toss:

          As I said in my last review, the top half of the table are making mistakes by electing to bat first after the pitches have turned chasing friendly.  And Mumbai made the same mistake that RCB did earlier in the day.  Mumbai Elected to bat first.  They made only one change as Coulter-Nile was replaced by Pattinson.  Rohit Sharma had to sit out this game too due to his injury.

  RR made no changes coming to this game.  So let us get into the review.  

2.  First Innings:     

         Mumbai started slowly in the first innings after the loss of Quinton De Kock.  Ishan Kishan and Surya Kumar Yadav were taking the game slowly up front.  Archer was once again banging the balls on target.  Gopal and Tewatia then formed a hurdle in their first innings.  Gopal took away the wicket of Surya and Pollard.  Tyagi's surprise delivery took Kishan by surprise as he slashed the ball to the hands of Archer who took an outrageous catch.

  Rohit's Replacement Saurabh tiwary rolled back the years, where he used to be the no.1 at RCB.  Then, Hardik Pandya showed the world that he is not a finished chapter.  Hardik was treating the bowlers of RR way too badly.  Only regret is that he has not yet started to bowl.  He displaced Rajpoot, who is naturally an expensive bowler, for 60 runs.  He then took on Tyagi in the last over and scored more than 20 again.  And because of Hardik, MI got to a competitive total of 195 for the loss of 5 wickets.  In the last 3 overs Mumbai scored 71, this sudden increase in the runs should've turned out to be the decisive factor, but it wasn't.  Let us see what happened in the second innings.

3.  Second Innings:  

         In the second innings though RR started very well as Uthappa and stokes were playing superb strokes.  The shots were glorious to watch.  Then, Pattinson started to bring in the hurdles as he dismissed Uthappa and Smith in his two overs.  Then, Stokes and Samson joined to produce one of the partnerships of this IPL.  MI were out of sorts.  They just could not get the wicket of either Stokes or Samson.  Both of them were setting up their innings perfectly well in the middle overs.  MI tried Pollard, Chahar, Krunal Pandya, Bumrah and etc., in the middle overs but no one could get Stokes and Samson out.  Samson was playing a supporting knock until 13th over, but after that, Stokes gave most of the strike to Samson, and Samson too Proved that he is back to his level best.  He and Stokes destroyed MI from the 14th to the 17th over.  In that 4 overs, MI conceded 60 odd runs.

  It was not bat than that of  RR who conceded 71 off 3 overs.  But the problem was, RR were already going well at a run rate of 9 for the first 13 overs.  So, even 10 an over from that point would have helped RR to win the game easily.  Instead, they scored 15 an over.  That really summed up MI's performance.  Boult was yet again inconsistent and expensive in his last two overs.  The Mumbai camp should look to bowl him out in the first 10 or 12 overs.  Because he is just like Deepak chahar for CSK, Boult swings the ball beautifully, but his death bowling is very worse.  The game totally shifted in that space of 4 overs.  MI completely lost their plot.  Stokes neared his hundred.  And Pattinson came to bowl the 19th over,  and Stokes got to a well deserved hundred and finished the game.  Ben Stokes, scored his second hundred in the IPL.  He scored his first for RPS in 2017.  Everyone criticised Stokes for opening the batting, because he was opening the batting and he was failing again and again.  His strike rate was poor and he was playing like nothing.  Suddenly he comes back to form against one of the best bowling attacks in this IPL.  Hats Off To Stokes.  MI just have to regain their balance back, with Rohit Sharma probably back for next game on wednesday, MI would look to cement their place in the Playoffs.  

       Cricket is a funny game.  Two teams on the top of the table lose to two teams on the bottom.  The two teams, RCB and MI should have secured their playoff spot, but failed to do so.  And the two bottom placed teams are looking to upset the others and play Spoilsport.  Because the determinant and passionate Kings XI Punjab will have to play these two teams.  So let us look forward and see what happens.  For now, I leave you with the full summary.

Final Summary:

        MI: 195/5  20 Overs.

        H.Pandya: 60(21); S.Yadav: 40(26)

        S.Gopal: 2/30 (4)

        RR: 196/2  18.2 Overs.

        B.Stokes: 107*(60); S.Samson: 54*(31)

        J.Pattinson: 2/40 (3.2)

Man Of The Match: Ben Stokes (RR)