Mumbai Indians finally opened their account with a win over the second-placed Rajasthan Royals on Saturday, April 30.
Opting to field, MI restricted RR to 158 for six, despite a fine 52-ball 67 by Jos Buttler at the top. The second-highest scorer for RR was Ravichandran Ashwin (21 off 9 balls), who played a cameo to take RR past the 150-run mark.
In reply, MI chased down the target in 19.2 overs with Suryakumar Yadav (51 off 39 balls) emerging as the top scorer. Yadav in the company of Tilak Varma (35) added 81 to keep MI in the hunt before Tim David (20) finished the job.
For MI, Riley Meredith (2/24) accounted for two wickets, while debutant spinner Kumar Kartikeya, impressed with his one for 19 in his four overs Daniel Sams (1/32) too, snapped one.
Hrithik Shokeen too took two but he went for too many runs, while pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah (0/27) too was on the mark.
Brief Scores:
Rajasthan Royals: 158 for 6 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 67 off 52 balls, Riley Meredith 2/24)
Mumbai Indians: 161 for 5 in 19.2 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 51; R Ashwin 1/21)