Mumbai Indians were handed their second defeat of the season as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi brought their A game against the five-time champions.
The game was affected by the rain and was reduced to 11 overs per side. Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi played knocks of 77* and 39 as Rajasthan posted 150/3 in 11 overs, and the total proved enough for the Royals as Mumbai eventually fell 27 runs short after being reduced to 123/9.
In the post-match briefing, MI skipper Hardik Pandya laid out the areas of concern for his team, stating that bowlers will have to step up and take some more responsibility. He further said that the batsmen in the team cannot be blamed for going for an all-out attack and, in the end, throwing away their wickets as they had a steep target to chase.
"I would not put this game on the batting. This was definitely the bowling unit which had to take responsibility. It's T20 cricket. It's always about bowling those right couple of balls. And if you see 27 (margin of defeat), that means we are talking about 5 good balls and 5 fewer sixes. So if we had executed the right balls, we would have been in the game," Hardik said after the match.
But as I said, their openers in the first couple of overs threw us out of the game. Then, throughout, we were catching up, and we fell short," he added. Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, and Trent Boult all leaked runs during the match, which became a pain point for the captain.
"We didn't execute the deliveries which we were supposed to. They played well. I think our bowlers need to take responsibility. As a bowling group, we were not at all up to the mark. And they played tremendous cricket," said Pandya.
Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians: Match Report
A rain delay of over two hours pushed the start of the Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians clash in Guwahati to 10:10 PM IST on Tuesday, April 7, reducing the game to an 11-over contest per side. Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and chose to field first.
Rajasthan's opening pair, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal, came out aggressively, taking on the Mumbai bowlers from the outset. The 15-year-old Sooryavanshi made an immediate impact, launching Jasprit Bumrah for a six off the very first delivery he faced. Although Shardul Thakur eventually dismissed him, Jaiswal continued his onslaught, remaining unbeaten on 77 and powering the Royals to a strong total of 150/3.
In reply, the Mumbai Indians never found momentum in the chase. Their top order collapsed early, with Ryan Rickelton, Suryakumar Yadav, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya, and Tilak Varma all falling within the first five overs. The early damage proved too much to recover from, as Rajasthan cruised to a comfortable 27-run victory, marking their third consecutive win and sending them to the top of the points table. Meanwhile, Mumbai suffered their second defeat in three matches.
