IPL 2018: Match 47, MI vs RR - Who Said What

Jos Butter has continued to make it a habit to win the games single-handedly to Rajasthan Royals ever since he has started to open the innings for them. He aced the chase of 169 runs handsomely and blunted the bowling of Mumbai Indians to help his side seal the game by 7 wickets. The win has also kept their playoff hopes well and truly alive. The defending champions though are now caught in the ‘ifs and buts’ as they can maximum reach to 14 points even if they win all their remaining matches.

But they were left to blame themselves as they botched up yet another good start was provided by their openers Evin Lewis and Suryakumar Yadav. The duo added 87 in 64 deliveries up front and set the platform for the middle-order to post a mammoth total on the board. But the skipper Rohit Sharma once again bagged golden duck and started the slide after Surya got out. Though Lewis managed to smack a half-century, he could only make 60 and was dismissed at the wrong time for his team.

Even Ishan Kishan failed to get going and it came down to Hardik Pandya to take his team to a decent total which he somehow managed. His 36-run knock helped Mumbai post the total of 168 runs for the loss of 6 wickets after their 20 overs. The chase began with D’Arcy Short failing yet again for the Royals which brought the skipper Ajinkya Rahane to the middle who perfectly played second fiddle to Buttler who was in amazing touch. he was completely determined to win the game for the visitors and scored his fifth consecutive half-century in the process.

Despite missing out on a century much like the last game, the England wicketkeeper wasn’t disappointed as he had managed to help his side in triumphing over Mumbai Indians (MI) who are known to be the champions while playing at home.

Man of the Match, Jos Buttler said:

Found some good form and I’m trying to keep it going. Bit of do-or-die situation for us. I’ve spent a lot of time batting in the middle order, so I try to be there till the end.

Our bowlers bowled very well and restricted them to about 15 runs less. The familiarity of the ground and the wicket helped me today. Looking forward to the next game.

Rajasthan Royals skipper, Ajinkya Rahane said:

Great win for all of us. 168-169 on this wicket was 10-15 runs short. Jofra’s couple of wickets in that over changed the game actually. We didn’t get a partnership in the earlier games but we knew that if we get one early on, it’ll be easy to chase.

The discussion before the game was to get used to the wicket as soon as possible. There’s room for improvement in the fielding department. I want the boys to stand up and do well in that.

Mumbai Indians skipper, Rohit Sharma said:

On a pitch like that we should have scored 15-20 runs more. In the games that we lost in the past, we didn’t finish well with the bat.

Today was another game we didn’t finish well, but I don’t want to be too harsh because we have been playing good cricket. We need to work on a few areas.

We need to keep our heads high and hope for two good games. It’s not going to be easy defending whatever target is set, but that’s not an excuse for us.

We have played enough cricket to understand the conditions here. He (Buttler) has been in great form. He didn’t give us any chances.