IPL 2021: We know what to do in last game, says Rohit after Mumbai's win over Royals

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Nathan Coulter-Nile of Mumbai Indians celebrates a wicket with skipper Rohit Sharma. (BCCI)
Nathan Coulter-Nile of Mumbai Indians celebrates a wicket with skipper Rohit Sharma. (BCCI)

Sharjah - Mumbai Indians kept playoff hopes alive with easy win over Royals

By AP

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Published: Wed 6 Oct 2021, 12:24 AM

Mumbai Indians dismantled Rajasthan Royals with their pace attack for an eight-wicket win in the Indian Premier League on Tuesday which kept the defending champions’ playoff hopes alive.

Nathan Coulter-Nile, James Neesham and Jasprit Bumrah shared nine wickets in between them as Rajasthan were pinned down to 90-9 after Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field.


Ishan Kishan (50 off 25 balls) then smacked his first half century of the season as Mumbai raced to 94-2 in only 8.2 overs to improve their net run-rate which could prove vital in deciding the fourth team for the playoffs.

“We had to come here and do what we had to do, which was to get the two points,” Rohit said. “Kishan is playing after a couple of games, so we wanted him to take his time. All we wanted for him was to play his shots, which is what he did.”


The battle for the fourth playoff spot is getting tighter with Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai both having 12 points and a game in hand.

Despite big win Mumbai are still behind Kolkata on net run-rate and will be needing another big win against Sunrisers Hyderabad next Thursday if Kolkata also beat Rajasthan in their last league game.

"All eight teams are capable of beating each other. But the good thing is that KKR play before us, so we know what to do," Rohit said.

Kishan smashed five boundaries along with three sixes and also became the youngest Mumbai batter to reach 1,000 IPL runs.

Earlier, Rajashtan couldn’t cope with the pace trio as Coulter-Nile led the way with 4-14, and was followed well by Neesham’s 3-12 and Bumrah picking up 2-12.

After Evin Lewis showed a brief spark by making 24 off 19 balls, Rajasthan kept losing wickets with regular intervals.

Lewis went for a leg-side slog against Burmah and was adjudged leg before wicket and Neesham had captain Sanju Samson caught at point off his first ball.

Coulter-Nile had Yashasvi Jaiswal (12) in the batting powerplay and then had Glenn Phillips clean bowled off a fullish delivery that hit the stumps through the batter’s legs. Coulter-Nile then returned in the latter half of the innings and had David Miller lbw before clean bowling Chetan Sakariya with the scrambled seam to sum up forgetful day for Rajasthan.

“It was a challenging wicket to bat on, and coming to play in Sharjah was tough,” Royals captain Samson said.

“Abu Dhabi was one of the best wickets we played on for batting. It’s a bit tough and cloudy in the mind right now. But definitely we will like to play better cricket from the next game. The pitch was a bit better in the second innings.”


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