Rajasthan Royals (RR) breezed past the underconfident Mumbai Indians (MI) on Monday, April 1 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai to register their third win of the 2024 edition of the IPL and stay unbeaten. The Royals have now played three games and won as many and look like the strongest team out of 10 as they continue their merry run. Monday was all about bowlers after a couple of games belonged to the batters in Jaipur for the Men in Pink as the likes of Trent Boult, Nandre Burger and Yuzvendra Chahal combined to restrict MI to just 125/9 which wasn't enough.
The game began with a double-wicket over as Boult in two games showcased his swing-bowling skills to the fullest. He got Rohit Sharma chasing a wide away-swinging delivery which Sanju Samson pouched it nicely while trapping Naman Dhir in front with an inswinger on the very next ball.
If that wasn't enough, Boult sent back the impact player Dewald Brevis in his next over to leave Mumbai reeling. Nandre Burger from the other end was like, why should Boult have all the fun and he dismissed Ishan Kishan, who had started aggressively with the bat as Mumbai Indians were staring down the barrel at 20/4.
Captain Hardik Pandya looked like a man on a mission as he started in a beast mode trying to belt everything he faced. To his credit, he did get a few quick boundaries off his bat which MI needed desperately and Tilak Varma from the other end too did his job but Yuzvendra Chahal cut short the partnership just when it seemed that the home team was getting back on the track.
Once Tilak too was dismissed by Chahal four overs later, it was a wait-and-watch situation for Mumbai Indians to get on the field to be able to try and make the game close with a score of 125 runs on the board. A wicket in the first over was a good start for the Men in Blue and the returning Akash Madhwal with wickets of Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler just kept the fire burning for the home team.
However, it was Riyan Parag to the rescue again for the inaugural champions as he not only helped the RR dismiss any hopes of an MI comeback but showed how to close down a chase which just started to get tricky, but wasn't to be. Parag, who was coming off an unbeaten 84 against the Delhi Capitals, continued his smashing form and hit second consecutive fifty to help RR chase down in 15.3 overs and take them to the top of the table.
