Mumbai Indians make their chances alive to qualify for the playoffs in IPL 2021. MI defeated RR at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium by 8 wickets and 70 balls left. It was a do-or-die match for both the teams where the 5-time IPK champion team gained the victory. Also, they dominated Rajasthan Royals in such a way both in batting and bowling that they had a huge recovery in run-rate as well.
The match
Rajasthan batted first, but they were unable to give a tough fight to Mumbai in a must-win game. MI bowlers completely dominated the RR batters where Nathan Coulter-Nile picked up 4 wickets, with James Neesham picking up 3 and Jasprit Bumrah dismissing 2 batsmen.
The only RR batter to play a little well is Evin Lewis, scoring 24 of 19 with 3 fours and one six. None except him could get past the 90 mark score and consequently, RR finished in 90 runs with the loss of 9 wickets.
In reply, the MI batters were explosive as they set their focus to recovering their run rate which was at minus 0.40 (approx.) before this match. However, after their batting storm, they were able to make it at minus 0.5, which was much better than before.
Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan opened the innings and gave a good start to their team. Sharma scored a speedy 22 of 13 balls with 1 four and 2 sixes. On the other hand, Ishan Kishan who was struggling in batting got back his form and hit a half-century in just 25 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes.
Chances for MI to qualify for the playoffs
With this win, Mumbai Indians very much have the chance to qualify for the finals. With RR getting knocked out of the tournament with this defeat, only MI and KKR would fight for 4th place to play in the eliminator. If KKR loses their next match, and MI wins their next, then only they would qualify for the finals with ease. Else, a huge run rate equation would come in between.
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