MUMBAI: There’s no business like show business. Even though the phrase is associated more with Bollywood, Mumbai’s other passion, cricket, isn’t too far away. Especially when it comes to IPL.
This season, the league has thrown up more dramatic turns and last-minute heroes than most movies.
And it was more of the same when a struggling Rajasthan Royals took on Mumbai Indians at a packed Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors seemed to have gotten over the bump as far as their batting was concerned. They were coasting at 170/2 in the 17th over while chasing down 188. Rajasthan then lost four wickets for four runs in the space of nine balls to provide what could have been a major twist in the tale.
The match stretched to the last over, and Shreyas Gopal — who has been the standout bowler for Rajasthan this season — knocked off the winning runs to smooth over the jitters.
As dramatic as it was, this was a much-needed victory for Rajasthan, who had won only one of their previous six matches.
And playing the lead role was Jos Buttler. A firm, true Wankhede wicket proved to be the perfect canvas for the Englishman’s aggression. The Rajasthan opener scored 89 off 43 with the help of eight fours and seven sixes, and laid the foundation for Royals’ victory.
He was involved in two crucial partnerships with Ajinkya Rahane (30) and Sanju Samson (31) at the top of the innings, but it was Buttler’s shot-making that took the game away from Mumbai.
Yorkers are a gold standard for bowlers in T20s. Alzarri Joseph tried to sting Buttler’s toes twice in the 13th over, but the English batsman angled his bat just right to send it away to third man for boundaries. Buttler hit four fours and two sixes to plunder 28 in that over.
It was a steep learning curve for the Antiguan pacer, who a week ago had made a sensational IPL debut with the best-ever bowling figures of 6/12.
Despite Buttler smoothing their path, Rajasthan’s lower order almost disintegrated once again. Jasprit Bumrah and Krunal Pandya took two wickets each in the space of three overs to revive the home crowd’s hopes. But Gopal kept his cool in the end.
“It feels good but I’m really happy the way we played,” Rajasthan captain Ajinkya Rahane said after the match.
“We should learn from our mistakes. Thirty balls and 30 runs needed, we should’ve won it easily. We believed in Shreyas Gopal. Jos was magnificent. We have to win almost every game now.”
Earlier, Mumbai didn’t quite build on a solid start and finished at 187/5 in their 20 overs. For the first time this season, openers Rohit Sharma (47) and Quinton de Kock (81) played well and helped the team to 96 in 10.5 overs.
Mumbai lost steam in the middle of the innings, and it was only a quickfire 28 from Hardik Pandya in the end that took them past the 180-run mark.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 187/5 in 20 ovs (De Kock 81, Rohit 47; Archer 3/39) lost to Rajasthan Royals 188/6 in 19.3 ovs (Buttler 89, Samson 31; Krunal 3/34).