MUMBAI: Jos Buttler navigated Rajasthan Royals through potentially choppy waters for a coast down Marine Drive on Sunday evening. Hosts Mumbai Indians had set a tricky, if not overwhelming, target of 169 at the sweltering Wankhede Stadium. But Buttler made a mockery of it, stroking his way to an adventurous 94 not out and leading Rajasthan to a seven-wicket victory with two overs to spare.
The win helped Rajasthan nudge ahead of Mumbai, into fifth on the leaderboard and stay in the race for the play-offs. Meanwhile, the defending champions are facing a very real prospect of an early exit, having won only 10 points off their first 12 matches.
They are currently sixth and will have to cling on to mathematical hope. Once placed at the bottom of the heap, Rajasthan have risen through the ranks impressively. And Buttler has been central to their turnaround. On Sunday, he scored his fifth consecutive fifty to fly them to safety. Buttler unfurled a wide array of strokes, from conventional straight drives to slog sweeps. He never really gave Mumbai a look-in in the game once he walked out with the bat, which he effectively used to club the ball around the park. Despite losing opening partner D’Arcy Short in the first over, Buttler continued uninterrupted.
He had two fruitful partnerships with Ajinkya Rahane (37 off 36) and Sanju Samson (26 off 14). His 95- run stand with Rahane combined some good running along with sensational hitting. In the end, if Rajasthan were able to cruise to the target, it was also because Mumbai just didn’t have the runs to apply any scoreboard pressure. Despite a great start to the innings, the hosts fizzled out in the second half of the innings to finish at a disappointing 168/6 in their 20 overs.
Having won three of their last three matches, Mumbai looked like they were going to launch another comeback. A 102- run win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday had looked like a sign of things to come, but it turned out otherwise.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 168/6 in 20 ovs (Suryakumar Yadav 38, Evin Lewis 60, Hardik Pandya 36; Jofra Archer 2/16, Ben Stokes 2/27) lost to Rajasthan Royals 171/3 in 18 ovs (Jos Buttler 94 n.o, Ajinkya Rahane 37; Hardik Pandya 2/52). sports@newindianexpress.com