Ambati Rayudu blasted a quickfire half-century to help Mumbai Indians overcome Rajasthan Royals by eight runs in their Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai, on Friday.
Rayudu justified the faith in striking a quick-fire unbeaten 53 from 27 balls, laced with three sixes and four boundaries to help Mumbai recover from a sluggish middle phase and finish on a combative total of 187 for five.
In reply, Sanju Samson smashed a brilliant 76 from 46 balls but Mitchell McClenaghan's double strike in the 18th over saw Rajasthan Royals finish on 179 for seven in their 20 overs.
McClenaghan claimed the wickets of Samson and Karun Nair (7) off successive deliveries before Lasith Malinga had Deepak Hooda caught for one in the next over to end Rajasthan's hopes.
Kiwi left-arm pacer McClenaghan snapped up three for 31 while Malinga, Vinay Kumar –- who bowled the last over –- and Jagadeesha Suchith got one wicket each.
Rajasthan looked all set for their eighth win in ten games when Samson played a whirlwind knock laced with three sixes and six fours, but his dismissal through a catch at long off stymied the Royals' run-chase.
Rayudu put on 61 runs in 30 balls with West Indian Pollard, who made 24 in 14 balls before departing as Mumbai finished the innings with a flourish.
Mumbai made a decent start of 43 courtesy of their openers Lendl Simmons (38 in 31 balls) and left-handed Parthiv Patel (23 in 14 balls), who were again guilty of not getting to a big score after getting their eyes in after MI were put in to bat by rival skipper Shane Watson.
Captain Rohit Sharma too promised much before departing on 27 before Rayudu and Pollard combined forces to provide MI with a good total at the packed Wankhede Stadium.
Watson kept shuffling his bowlers and reaped rewards. Dhawal Kulkarni snapped up the wickets of Patel and Rohit while giving away 26 runs in three overs while the other three wickets were shared by Tim Southee, Juan Theron and Ankit Sharma.
Initially, left-handed Patel was the more aggressive of the two openers as he cut the ball square off the pacers with elan to earn four fours.
The diminutive wicketkeeper-batsman struck Dhawal Kulkarni for two fours off successive balls in the medium pacer's first over.
Patel then got couple of more boundaries in one over from Juan Theron, playing his first IPL game of the season, to keep up a healthy run-rate.
However, the Gujarat-born batsman departed again after getting a good start in the fourth over when Kulkarni exacted revenge by catching him off his own bowling off the 17th ball he faced.
Patel fell in the fifth over when MI's score read 43 and after the first six overs of Powerplay the score stood at 47 for 1.
Simmons, at the other end, held his end up after being dropped off the second ball of the innings when he edged Southee to Royals stumper Sanju Samson who grassed the ball off his gloves. The West Indian too departed in the tenth over when set after raising MI hopes by pulling Watson for a four and a step-out six in successive balls in the previous over.
He failed to connect a sweep shot off left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma and declared out leg before. His knock was laced with one six and four fours.
In their run chase, Rajasthan should have lost the in-form Ajinkya Rahane cheaply in the first over from Mitchell McClenaghan but for Jagadeesha Suchith grassing the catch at square leg.
Rahane made only 16 but importantly put on 30 for the first wicket with captain Shane Watson who made 28 in 23 balls before he was castled by Suchitch with his left arm spin when the score was 71.
Watson, who hit two pulled sixes, put on 41 runs for the second wicket with Samson who seems to have a liking for the Wankhede track -- having scored a fine 74 in 47 balls in the last IPL against Mumbai Indians.
Samson played big shots like the slog-swept six off Suchith as well as cheeky ones like the off glides for fours off Harbhajan Singh, and Steve Smith then put Royals well on way to victory with a partnership of 56 that helped the team cross the 100 mark in the 12th over. But all came to naught with Samson’s dismissal.
