IPL 2020: 3 Mistakes committed by the losing side in MI vs RR

Rajasthan Royals faced their third consecutive defeat as defending champions, Mumbai Indians defeated them by a massive margin. Mumbai looked under control of the game since the beginning with Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock’s partnership at the top. However, the star of their batting was Suryakumar Yadav who scored 79* off 47 and stayed till the end to take Mumbai’s score to 193.

While chasing the mammoth total, RR found it extremely difficult to maintain the scoring rate against the skilled bowlers of MI. Thus, they lost early wickets and apart from Jos Buttler, none of their batsmen made any impact. Hence, RR faced their first defeat in MI vs RR encounter since 2016. With this loss, RR have lost three out of their five games so far and its high time for them to figure a better game plan for the rest of the season.

Here are the three mistakes committed by RR in match 20, MI vs RR:-

1. Very short batting order

Rajasthan hasn’t made an above par score since they have moved out of Sharjah. Their batting order is extremely dependent on their top three batsmen and this is troubling them a lot now. One of the biggest mistakes they made yet again was playing a batsman short. They had six bowling options and this makes Tom Curran bat at number six who looked quite under confident against such a massive score. RR should make sure their batting is lengthy enough to put less pressure on their top three.

2. Leaking too many runs at the death

RR pulled the game back in the middle overs, after a formidable start for Mumbai. Shreyas Gopal picked up the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan on two consecutive balls which restricted their run-rate as well. However, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav exploited the fact that RR lacked reliable bowlers at the death as Jofra Archer was their only option. MI scored 68 in the last five overs, which pushed their score above 190.

3. Steve Smith playing outside his role

Steve Smith is one of the most reliable batsmen and the anchor of RR’s batting unit. However, after scoring two important fifties in the first two games, the skipper hasn’t performed as per the expectations in the last three matches. In MI vs RR encounter, if Smith would have played the role of an anchor along with Jos Buttler, the power hitter, they could have stitched a match-winning partnership that could have last longer.

But he went for a big shot like he has been doing in this season and got out early. RR needs a batsman who could bat till the end and secure one of the ends while others bat along with him. To get back on to the winning track, clarity in the role of one of their most reliable batsmen is extremely important.