A sixth consecutive win for Mumbai Indians, and with some style. One-way traffic the entire way, as a 116-run opening stand for Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton set the tone for the night. Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav put the gloss on the innings of 217-2, and RR were never in it after that. Vaibhav Suryavanshi had an off-night, out for a duck, as did Yashasvi Jaiswal. Five wickets fell in the powerplay alone, and it was a formality from there as MI sealed their win by 100 runs.
RR tried to take away Ryan Rickelton’s arms, cramping him with their lines. But he one-upped them with his short-arm pulls. Then they tried their slower balls into the pitch, but the batter held his shape nicely and swung through. He was being asked to hit to the long leg-side boundary. He took up the challenge and cleared it. Rickelton made 34 of his first 51 runs on the leg side in just nine balls
Cricket had the chance to avoid a cliche tonight. But it didn’t even try. The last time RR had to chase down a 200-plus total, IPL history was made with 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi scoring a 35-ball century. Here, the first time he goes for a big shot, he got out for a duck. This game just can’t help but be a leveller.
