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The toss gods helped the Rajasthan Royals stroll to an eight wicket victory over the mighty Mumbai Indians in Jaipur on Friday. Mumbai misread the pitch and managed only 94/8 in their 20 overs which the Rajasthani batsmen led by Johan Botha chased cleanly, albeit cautiously. Rajasthan's bowling was the highlight of the day as was Shane Warne's captaincy. The way he used his bowlers, spinners in particular, is a lesson in sensible thinking. Rajasthan have been unable to dethrone Mumbai but will happily accept the second place in the points table.

Sachin Tendulkar met his old nemesis once again as the Mumbai Indians took on Shane Warne’s Rajasthan Royals at Jaipur, Friday afternoon. Tendulkar went for the wrong side of the coin giving Shane Warne the chance to choose to field. Shane Warne made no changes to Rajasthan's winning combination while Mumbai replaced the impressive Abu Nechim with Ali Murtaza.

Tendulkar and Davy Jacobs got their team off to a brisk start scoring a few boundaries in a dominant fashion. Unfortunately for Mumbai, Jacobs’ luck ran out on 15 and his aggression proved to be his undoing as an Amit Singh delivery dodged a heave over long on to crash into his middle stump. Sachin Tendulkar too fell the very next over as he gave Ashok Menaria the charge only to get himself stumped for 7 in the process. Mumbai’s Powerplay definitely tilted the scales in Rajasthan’s favour as 2 top Mumbai wickets fell for just 31 runs in 6 overs.

Rohit Sharma joined Ambati Rayudu in the middle and the onus was on them to show Mumbai the way. They started cautiously, but just as Sharma was looking to break free, Menaria struck again taking the catch of Rayudu for 11 off his own bowling. Mumbai had its own players to blame for this debacle as every batsman got out trying to play the aggressor on a pitch that required application. Sharma (whose reputation for erratic shot making precedes him) was the next to follow suit as he tried to launch Warne over long off only to hand Johan Botha a lollypop. Andrew Symonds and Keiron Pollard, who were expected to turn things around for Mumbai played the most bizarre innings seen in IPL struggling, to pick even singles as Shane Warne completed his permitted quota of 4 overs for just 13, never taking the pressure off Mumbai.

By the time Keiron Pollard was put out of his misery by Johan Botha (brought late into the attack) after making 4 off 15 deliveries, Mumbai Indians had switched on the self destruct button. After a slightly expensive Siddharth Trivedi over that brought Mumbai ten runs, Botha struck twice in three balls removing Symonds (17 off 26) and Rajagopal Sathish. Mumbai batted out twenty overs without reaching even a 100 runs as Harbhajan Singh’s last ball sixer took them only to 94/8. The Rajasthani bowling attack fired as a unit with Botha taking three wickets for just six runs. Amit Singh and Menaria impressed with the ball taking two wickets a piece. The Mumbai Indians put up a batting performance that was their worst in a long time leaving the bowlers with too much to do in under 95 runs.

A dull chase was on the cards and the Rajasthan openers Shane Watson and Rahul Dravid sent out a message that that was exactly what they would provide. They started cautiously, Rahul Dravid in particular, tapping ball after ball back to Lasith Malinga playing out his dangerous spell. Trouble came in the form of Munaf Patel’s second over when Dravid was deceived into launching a ball into the sky only to have the captain Tendulkar pouch it safely inside the circle. The powerplay brought the Royals only 18 runs but more importantly, only a single wicket was lost.

Johan Botha and Watson decided that classical cricket was most effective on a deviant pitch, picking singles and twos while defending the good deliveries ably. Botha and Watson each hit a six to take Rajasthan to a fairly comfortable 46 after 10. Rajasthan started to attack after the ball had gone a little old, but Malinga came back in the twelfth over to dismiss Shane Watson with a short pitched delivery. Watson scored a useful 26 off 32 balls leaving the chase in perfect equilibrium at 56/2 after 11.4 overs.Rajasthan walked the required rate tightrope for the next few overs. A couple of quick wickets and Mumbai had a chance to win this yet. After 16 overs  though, Rajasthan were sitting pretty at 80/2 as the crowds began to leave the stadium.

Rajasthan completed the chase in the 19th over with Botha, who batted so diligently failing to get to his fifty falling to Munaf after a match winning 45 off 39 balls. His kind of an innings was the one that Mumbai sorely missed on a day none of their batsmen got to even 20. Mumbai bowled well, Munaf and Malinga in particular, troubling Rajasthan through the chase. In the end, the fact that Rajasthan knew how much to score worked in their favour as they managed to thwart a team that looked way better in comparision both on form and on paper.

The Royals can move one step closer to the next round with another home win at fortress Jaipur when they welcome the Pune Warriors this coming Sunday. Mumbai have an extra day to work out their shortcomings before they entertain the Kings XI Punjab at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.

Team:

Mumbai Indians: Davy Jacobs, Sachin Tendulkar, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Kieron Pollard, R Sathish, Harbhajan Singh, Lasith Malinga, Ali Murtaza, Munaf Patel.

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson, Ashok Menaria, Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Singh, Ross Taylor, Dishyant Yagnik, Shane Warne, Johan Botha, Stuart Binny, Siddharth Trivedi

Mini Scorecard:

Mumbai Indians 94/8 (20 overs, 4.7rpo)
Andrew Symonds 17 (26) Johan Botha 3-6
Davy Jacobs 15 (15) Amit Singh 2-14

Rajasthan Royals: 95/3 (18.1 overs, 5.22rpo)
Shane Watson 26(32) Munaf Patel 2-18
Johan Botha 45(39) Lasith Malinga 1-20

File Photograph Copyright: Chris Brown

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