Mumbai Indians thrash Rajasthan Royals by 100 runs in Jaipur

They now sit comfortably at the top of the table at the end of 50 games, reasserting their dominance in the league over the years. It was a dominant performance with the bat and the ball, and they once again showcased why they are such a feared side.

The match began with Rajasthan Royals choosing to field, hoping to replicate their success from their previous game at this stadium on Monday.

Despite having made three changes to their XI which won them the game, in part due to Injury to Sandeep Sharma, their decsion appeared to have been the correct one, as the Mumbai Indians appeared to get off to a slow start, with Rohit Sharma surviving an early scare, having been saved by DRS due to the ball pitching outside leg stump by the thinnest of margins.

Having seen the early overs through, the openers freed their arms and started playing some shots, ending with 58 for no loss at the end of six, with Rickleton being the more aggressive of the two. The trend continued even after the powerplay as the pair stitched together a century partnership and maintained a steady run rate of around ten an over.

Rajasthan Royals got a sniff when both Rickleton and Rohit fell in successive overs after completing their half centuries, and the Royals started to hope they could keep the total down to way under 200. But Surya Kumar Yadav and the captain Hardik, who had chosen to promote himself to No.4 today, had other plans, and they continued playing their shots and never let the run rate go down. The pair put on an unbeaten 94 runs in under eight overs.

Mumbai Indians ended up with a score of 217, thanks to a complete batting effort led by Rickleton, who top-scored with 61, and Rohit, who made 53. The duo of Hardik and Surya finished with an identical score of 48 off 23 balls, with Surya Kumar regaining the Orange Cap.

Rajasthan's chase could not have started in a worse manner, with their young centurion from last game, Vaibhav Suryavanshi getting out for a second ball duck.

With a daunting target ahead and the risk of elimination in front, the Rajasthan batters had no choice but to keep attacking which worked in Mumbai Indians bowlers' favour as they kept picking up wickets, taking as many as five wickets just by the end of the fifth over with Jaiswal, Nitish, Parag and Hetmeyer all back in the hut.

Chahar, Boult, and Bumrah all found success even as Rajasthan managed to be marginally ahead in runs, ending the powerplay at 62. If Rajasthan hoped they would consolidate, the Mumbai bowlers had different plans and did not let their foot off the pedal.

The captain brought himself on to pick up a wicket of his first ball of Shubham Dubey, and was soon joined by Karn Sharma, who got rid of the last of the recognized batter, Dhruv Jurel.

The Rajasthan lower order did not put up much resistance either, with only Jofra Archer playing a few shots and taking the score past the hundred mark to bring in some respectability, but soon enough the team was knocked over for. Karn Sharma had the best figures, finishing with 3/23, but much of the work was done by the seam bowlers earlier in the evening.

Rajasthan would now be forced to focus on planning for the next season in their remaining three games, whereas Mumbai would look to continue to march on, with a top-two finish in view.

(With inputs from IPL website)