IPL 2018: Match 21, Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians - Expectation vs Reality

Sixth-ranked Rajasthan Royals will take on seventh-ranked Mumbai Indians in the twenty-first fixture of IPL at Jaipur. While RR are ahead of MI in terms of the games won, MI will have the upper hand in the match considering their Playing XI has finally gelled well together after three losses whereas RR are still figuring out how to go about their Playing XI.

For RR, their biggest and perhaps the only positive has been the promise Sanju Samson has shown so far. They boast of a line-up with several match-winners and have some exciting overseas prospects but none of them have come out as well as they were expected to, so far. However, for MI, their reality check came early in the tournament and they now look far more prepared for the challenges to come after knowing and improvising their frailties.

We have a few expectations from the match, do you too?

No Samson show for RR

Rajasthan Royals as a batting unit has failed to connect collectively but Sanju Samson has looked in a league of his own in spite of what is happening on the other end. He has stepped up for the team after the persistent early dismissals of the openers but it is now time for someone else to step up. It’s hard to say who will but the gut instinct suggests it won’t be Samson.

So far, Samson has scored 49, 37, 92*, 7, 2. After the show against RCB, he hasn’t got going and it is unlikely he will get going against MI eitheir if Mitchell McClenaghan is in the Playing XI and Samson isn’t able to see off his threat. McClenaghan has dismissed him four times in 11 deliveries including three dismissals in the last three balls. Anyway, several other players in RR are due for something special.

Bumrah to show how it’s done

Jasprit Bumrah is seen leading the MI bowling attack and rightly so. Despite the fact that Mustafizur Rahman and him haven’t quite shown the destructive effect of bowling in-tandem so far, Bumrah has been doing his own job silently and peacefully. With 2-wicket-hauls in 2 matches and the solitary wicket in the opening match, Bumrah has been in the wickets column but not with the impact he would have liked.

Expect that to change today, expect him to trouble the RR batsmen more than he has managed to so far in the tournament. There aren’t many worries for MI at the moment except that they failed to capitalize on many moments in the games they eventually lost but for Bumrah and Fizz to become a force to reckon with together will enhance chances for MI.

Here is the reality check after the match:

Bumrah did show

He did show how it’s done but that did not come without a mess-up of the highest order from him and MI. MI was well in thegame after they had successfully broken all the partnerships and sent a well-set Stokes and Samson back to pavillion. However, Bumrah was going well and had scalped two wickets before bowling the penultimate over. But in that over, he not only conceded a no-ball but was also hit for 18 runs.

More so, he seemed to be bowling length at death when he should have been targetting Jofra Archer and K Gowtham with yorkers. It only paved way for both these batsmen to settle well before they unleashed their fury in the last two overs. The last over was bowled by Hardik Pandya, who Gowtham negotiated with very easily despite the fact that Archer had been dismissed.

Samson show

We were wrong about this. He was the highest scorer of the innings and the one player who made sure the deficit in the chase decreased with every delivery he faced. Coupled with a 27-ball-40 from Stokes, Samson batted until the 17th over keep hope for RR intact. He ended up scoring a carefully constructed 39-ball-52 which put him back on track for the Orange Cap.

That innings was the perfect foundation laid for Krishnappa Gowtham to come in and finish things off in style, under pressure. He scored 33 runs in 11 balls against Mustafizur, Bumrah and Hardik Pandya and became a key reason for assuring a 3 wicket win for his side.

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