'Perfect birthday gift for Rohit Sharma' - All-round Mumbai Indians beat Rajasthan Royals to earn maiden win

Mumbai Indians are finally on the board with a five-wicket triumph over a strong Rajasthan Royals side. It was another thriller that went right down to the wire. Although RR did fairly well defending a paltry 158 on a good batting track, MI got over the line this time around to earn their maiden win in IPL 2022. While Riley Meredith and Hrithik Shokeen were brilliant with the ball, Suryakumar scored a match-winning fifty.

Earlier in the match, Mumbai Indians won the toss and unsurprisingly elected to bowl at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy. RR yet again got off to a steady start with openers Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal adding 26 runs for the first wicket before the latter was dismissed for 15. While skipper Sanju Samson and Daryl Mitchell failed to convert their starts, Jos Buttler continued his merry way of scoring runs and brought up yet another half-century.

He ended up scoring 67 off 52 balls as MI got a breather in the slog overs. The likes of Riley Meredith and Jasprit Bumrah were brilliant towards the end as RR failed to play the big shots. Making his IPL debut, Kumar Kartikeya also bowled brilliantly, recording figures of 1/19 in his quota of four overs. Fortunately for RR, Ravi Ashwin played an important 21-run cameo, helping his side post 158/6 in their allotted 20 overs.

Yet another half-century for Suryakumar Yadav

In reply, MI’s top-order woes continued as skipper Rohit Sharma perished for two on his 35th birthday. While Ishan Kishan started off nicely and played some fine shots in the powerplay overs, Trent Boult dismissed him for a 18-ball 26. The baton was then passed on to in-form duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma, who didn’t fail to impress. Both dashers paced their innings to perfection and added 81 runs for the third wicket.

Just when MI’s win looked a mere formality, both set batters perished in quick succession as tables seemed turned. While Suryakumar perished after scoring a fine half-century, Tilak scored 35. However, RR couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity as Tim David and Kieron Pollard kept their calm in the crunch moments. As a result, MI crossed the line in 19.2 overs, clinching the contest by five wickets.

Meanwhile, let’s look at how Twitter reacted to MI’s triumph: