Twitter Reactions: RR's Ben Stokes takes MI bowlers on a safari ride in Abu Dhabi

The 45th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) saw the contest of two teams with contrasting fortunes; a clash of the apogee and the abyss. The Mumbai Indians have had a rollicking campaign this year and have been at their dominant best with all their bases covered. The same could not be stated for their opponents Rajasthan Royals though. The fixture was far more important given the critical situation of the Royals, who were struggling at the bottom of the table.

It was once again Kieron Pollard who came out at the time of toss making it clear that the injured Rohit Sharma was unavailable to play. Choosing to bat first, MI was rocked early as Jofra Archer castled the in-form Quinton de Kock with a ripper of delivery. Jolted by early dismissal, MI did well to not let their scoring rate get affected as Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav began to seamlessly guide their team with some quality, aggressive stroke-making. The 83-run alliance between two promising batsmen brought MI back on track.

Pandya’s brutal rampage 

However, just when Kishan (37 off 36) started to shift gears in a bid to improve his strike rate, a one-handed blinder by Archer at third-man undid him. A couple of overs later, Yadav (40 from 26) holed one straight to Ben Stokes at long-off and RR managed to break their opponent’s sweet and settled rhythm.

When Shreyas Gopal knocked over Kieron Pollard cheaply in the same over, it seemed that MI would undergo a collapse. Although, Hardik Pandya had some belligerent plans. At the 16-over mark, MI was 121/4. After 20, they reached 194, thanks to some insane hitting by Pandya, who smoked Ankit Rajput and Kartik Tyagi for 27 runs apiece in the 18th and the 20th over.

The early breakthrough followed by Samson-Stokes’ masterclass

Chasing nearly 10 runs an over, RR would not have wanted to lose early wickets. However, James Pattinson gave them a double blow in the powerplay as Robin Uthappa (13 from 11) fell cheaply in an attempt to smash a short ball straight to Pollard at mid-off, whereas Steven Smith (11 from 8) was cleaned up by Pattinson in the fifth over.

RR’s stubbornness with Stokes (107 off 60) to open paid off today as the Englishman smothered a century against the star-studded bowling attack of MI with ridiculous ease. He was well assisted by Sanju Samson (54 off 31), who looked hungry for scoring runs after multiple failures.

Both the batsmen batted sensibly and ensured a constant flow of runs through hitting boundaries and rotating strike. After a fiery opening spell, Pattinson was battered by Stokes and Samson for 18 runs in the 13th over that led to a complete change in momentum.

Upping the ante, the duo added 19, 13, and 15 runs in the next three overs. After a 28-ball half-century from Stokes, Samson brought up his fifty in 27 balls when RR was left to score merely 24 of the last four. And they did it in style with 10 balls to spare.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: