Mumbai Indians succumbed to Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday. RR beat us by five wickets as Steve Smith starred with an unbeaten 59. Quinton de Kock was our star with the bat (65 from 47 balls) and Rahul Chahar was the pick of our bowlers with figures of 3 for 29. 

Chasing 162 to win, Rajasthan began brightly with Sanju Samson in good touch. Samson was scoring at a brisk pace, while Ajinkya Rahane kept rotating the strike at the other end. With the pressure on MI, Chahar provided us with the breakthrough after Rahane was caught at cover in the fourth over.

Smith walked in to bat at three for Rajasthan and the Australian ensured that the hosts didn’t lose much momentum. A few elegant strokes by the right-hander saw RR get to 60 by the end of the powerplay and put them in a position of strength.

Once again it was Chahar, who broke the partnership for MI as Samson mistimed a ball and was caught near the boundary ropes. Chahar then went on to rattle Ben Stokes’ stumps in the same over to turn the tide in our favour.

Smith though took charge of the situation for RR and put on a crucial 70-run partnership with Riyan Parag, who to his credit scored a handy 43. Parag was eventually run-out in the 18th over and Jasprit Bumrah also removed Ashton Turner for a duck in the next over to make it nervy in the end. However, Smith kept his resolve and along with Stuart Binny got the Royals over the line.

Earlier in the evening, our openers found it difficult to score quickly and Rohit Sharma was dismissed in just the third over by Shreyas Gopal. Quniton de Kock could have fallen in the same over, but RR failed to hold on to his catch. The South African cashed in on his chance in the subsequent over by hitting Dhawal Kulkarni for 19 runs.

Suryakumar Yadav, who replaced Rohit, came in and built a solid partnership with de Kock as both batsmen looked to dominate the bowlers. The duo ensured MI scored at a healthy run rate and took the total to 81 by the end of the 10th over as de Kock reached his third fifty this season.

The 97-run partnership between the two came to an end in the 14th over after Suryakumar was caught at fine leg while trying to clear the ropes. The next over saw de Kock depart after scoring 65, meaning two new batsmen – Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard – were in the middle.

After taking some time to assess the pitch, both Hardik and Pollard decided to go big in the 17th over. While Hardik was lucky to survive a dropped catch, Pollard wasn’t as fortunate and ended up getting bowled by Jaydev Unadkat. Hardik was dropped again in the penultimate over and then added insult to injury for RR by smashing a maximum. However, the swashbuckling Indian all-rounder was dismissed in the last over, which saw us score nine runs and Ben Cutting finish with a six to get us to 161.

Brief score: Mumbai Indians 161 for 5 in 20 overs (de Kock 65; Gopal 2/21) lost to Rajasthan Royals 162 for 5 in 19.1 overs (Smith 59*; Chahar 3/29) by 5 wickets

Man of the Match: Steve Smith

Our next match will see us travel south to play Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.