MUMBAI, April 13: Englishman Jos Buttler laid the platform with a rampaging 89 while Shreyas Gopal held his nerve at the death to power Rajasthan Royals to a four wicket victory over Mumbai Indians in an Indian Premier League encounter here on Saturday.
This was Royals� second victory of the season in seven games after losing a last ball thriller to CSK less than 48 hours back.
Put into bat, Mumbai Indians rode on a aggressive 81 by South African Quinton de Kock to post an imposing 187/5, but Buttler�s 43-ball knock studded with eight fours and seven sixes set the tone before Royals survived a scare to finish the game in 19.3 overs.
The match was a forgettable one for young West Indies pacer Alzarri Joseph (0/53 in 3 overs), who was hammered for eight fours and three sixes and then was injured trying to save a boundary.
The 13th over changed the game�s complexion as Buttler smashed two sixes and four fours off Joseph to bring down the equation to a manageable run-a-ball. Buttler first conjured a 60-run opening stand with skipper Ajinkya Rahane (37 off 21 balls, 6x 4; 1x6) to lay the foundation and then added 87 runs for the second wicket with Sanju Samson (31 off 26 balls; 2x4, 1x6).
SCORECARD
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma c Jos Buttler b J Archer 47, Quinton de Kock c Jos Buttler b J Archer 81, Suryakumar Yadav b D Kulkarni 16, Kieron Pollard c Shreyas Gopal b J Archer 6, Hardik Pandya not out 28, Ishan Kishan c Jos Buttler b J Unadkat 5, Krunal Pandya not out 0. Extras: (B-1, W-3) 4. Total: (For 5 wickets in 20 overs) 187. Fall of wickets: 96-1, 117-2, 136-3, 163-4, 175-5. Bowler: Krishnappa Gowtham 3-0-39-0, D Kulkarni 4-0-38-1, J Archer 4-0-39-3, J Unadkat 4-0-36-1, S Gopal 4-0-21-0, L Livingstone 1-0-13-0.
Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane c Suryakumar Yadav b K Pandya 37, Jos Buttler c Suryakumar Yadav b R Chahar 89, Sanju Samson lbw b J Bumrah 31, Steven Smith c Ishan Kishan b J Bumrah 12, Rahul Tripathi c Hardik Pandya b K Pandya 1, Liam Livingstone b K Pandya 1, Shreyas Gopal not out 13, Krishnappa Gowtham not out 0. Extras: (LB-2, W-2) 4. Total: (For 6 wickets in 19.3 overs) 188. Fall of wickets: 60-1, 147-2, 170-3, 171-4, 174-5, 174-6. Bowling: J Behrendorff 3-0-31-0, Alzarri Joseph 3-0-53-0, R Chahar 4-0-34-1, J Bumrah 4-0-23-2, K Pandya 4-0-34-3, H Pandya 1.3-0-11-0. � PTI
