RR vs MI Highlights, IPL 2024: Yashasvi Jaiswal scores fine ton after Sandeep Sharma’s 5-for; RR win 9 wickets

Sanju Samson: : "The credit has to go to all the players. We started off really well with the ball in the powerplay. In the end, both the left-handers played unbelievably well. Some quality spin from Ashwin and Chahal. The way they went after them was really great. The wicket looked dry, but Jaipur is still colder in the night. When the lights come on, it looks like a better wicket to bat on. It came true today (smiles). The way Buttler and Jaiswal batted for a couple of overs after rain, we knew that we had to just reset and go back to our momentum. People are professional enough to understand what they need to do when they get a break, so I am really happy with the approach. Jaiswal is always confident. We knew it's just a matter of one game. The way he batted in the powerplay, he was calm and composed, knowing that things are in control. We knew in the dugout that he is playing some cricketing shots and he will be fine today. I am really happy for him.We are going to Lucknow. Let's see how the wicket is out there and let's see how it goes." 

(Via IPL match center)

With that, RR are done with their matches in Jaipur, a venue that has been good for them this year. Their next four matches are away from home and then they shift bases to Guwahati for their last 2 "home" matches. A lap of honour from the RR players happening now. 

THAT ? moment! ??

Jaipur is treated with a Jaiswal special! ?

Scorecard ?? https://t.co/Mb1gd0UfgA#TATAIPL | #RRvMI | @ybj_19 pic.twitter.com/i0OvhZKtGI

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 22, 2024

Hardik Pandya's reaction post-match: We put ourselves in trouble early on and didn't think 180 was possible. But the way Tilak and Nehal wanted was fantastic. But then we didn't finish well and that's why we were 10-15 runs short at the halfway stage.

Yashasvi Jaiswal returned to form with a superb unbeaten century to back up Sandeep Sharma's 5-for as Rajasthan Royals thumped Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Monday. 

Jaiswal went past 50 for the first time this season and made it 104* off 60 balls, hitting the winning runs as well as RR stayed top of the table 7 wins in 8 matches. 

Earlier, Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera stitched together a fine recovery partnership in the middle order for MI after they were jolted early by RR. Sandeep Sharma finished with a five-wicket haul, including three wickets in the final over, on his return to the side as Rajasthan Royals restricted Mumbai Indians to 179/9 

Jaiswal has a chat with Rohit Sharma at the end. The Indian captain would have been pleased to see the Jaiswal knock, maybe not the MI player. 

RR WIN BY 9 WICKETS! Two wins in two against MI for RR this season. Jaiswal fittingly hits the winning runs, a cut for four behind point. Jaiswal's lack of runs was one box to be ticked for RR and they have got that too. 

CENTURY FOR YASHASVI JAISWAL! He really is enjoying this moment. Big celebrations from the youngster, he is back. A 2nd IPL ton and he gets there off just 59 balls. 

A steady over from Tushara, just 5 singles. Jaiswal gets to 99 with a single off the last ball. And he will be on strike to Tilak Varma (Correction) 

Tushara comes in, can Jaiswal get to a ton? He needs 4, RR need 10. 

Samson picks off a low full toss from Bumrah really well for a four behind square. Nice shot that. Oh dear. Another ordinary effort in the field, as Nabi lets one through the gate for another four to Samson. Hardik and Bumrah have wry smiles. Sunil Gavaskar on air sounds despondent: "It's been hard to recognise this team. Been following this team since 2008. It's not the team I know."

Back after a timeout. Bumrah will bowl his 4th and final over. 

Kevin Pietersen, on air, can't believe Coetzee is coming to bowl his 2nd over so late despite rattling Jaiswal early with the extra pace. And right on cue, Jaiswal gets hit on the chest by a short ball. But the left-hander finishes the over with a super six over square leg. He is one shot away from a ton. 

Can Jaiswal get to another IPL ton? Very likely it seems at the moment. Coetzee comes on, he troubled Jaiswal earlier with some serious heat even though the batter picked him off for some runs. 

A big over for RR as Jaiswal goes after Bumrah. The free hit six helped, then Jaiswal hit another four behind square on the leg as well for good measure. Bumrah came in late as it is and it doesn't help that the two batters are seeing the ball so well now. 

When it's an off-night for Bumrah, then MI's bowling really looks weak. Starts the over with a no ball, followed by a wide, then the free hit is sent soaring over square leg for six. 

Rajasthan Royals need 47 runs in 38 balls at 7.42 rpo and in comes Bumrah. Too much to do even for him at this point. 

Jaiswal is back alright! The six-hitting machine that we saw during the IND-ENG Test series. Dances down the track, reads Chawla's wrong 'un and sends it sailing over long off. 

Still no Bumrah, Piyush to bowl out his spell. 

Horror continues on the field for MI! Hardik with a nice cutter, rolling the fingers around the seam and getting Samson to mishit one. But David puts down an absolute sitter at long on. Hardik was smashed down the ground for a six earlier in the over by Samson but the captain should have had the captain.

Hardik Pandya comes in... still holding Bumrah back it seems. 

For those of you who like numbers, RR were 111/1 after 11.1 overs. Just six minutes short of 11:11 pm too.

A fine over from Chawla comes to an end, it was three 1s in that over. 

Two sixes in that Nabi over. First, what a sweet, flat strike from Jaiswal over deep midwicket. That was timed so well. Samson hits a six too but this just clears Tilak's diving attempt at deep midwicket. 

DROPPED! Not the first slice of fortune, but Jaiswal will take it tonight. Slices this, and Wadhera should be doing better at long off, but he drops and the ball goes for six. 

FIRST HALF CENTURY OF IPL 2024 FOR YBJ! A 31-ball 50 for Yashasvi Jaiswal and he does his 'flex-the-muscle' celebrations with a smile. Important box ticked for RR, Jaiswal back in form. 

Just when MI spinners were starting to exert an ounce of pressure, Jaiswal with a lovely hit down the ground for a six off Nabi. Samson has joined the left-hander in the middle. 

PIYUSH CHAWLA STRIKES! Another one that spins and beats the outside edge, this time from Chawla to Buttler. But the Englishman responds with a reverse sweep for four. The veteran leggie comes back with a wonderful slider that beats Buttler for pace and rattles the stumps. Breakthrough for MI, desperately needed. 

Spin from both ends, Chawla comes on.

After getting hit for a four past cover by Jaiswal, Nabi bowls an absolute peach to beat the left-hander's outside edge. Good sign for MI that there is some grip and turn still on offer. Still a good over for RR. 

For what it was worth, par score during the delay was 41/0 and RR were way ahead of that. The rain will perhaps batting a bit easier too, can Royals close this out in a canter? 

Play resumes, Nabi has the ball in hand. 

Here we go, looks like the inspection wasn't needed after all. The players are out in the middle, the play will restart at 10.45 pm. We assume no overs have been lost. 

What a day for Gukesh and Indian chess! 

In his fledgling career, 17-year-old Gukesh has constantly wooed history. He became India’s youngest grandmaster ever at the age of 12 years, seven months, 17 days, missing the tag of the world’s youngest by a mere 17 days. He overhauled the five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand as the country’s top ranked player for the first time after 36 years last year. Now, he has added another feat to that impressive list.

Read more here.

Umpires are in conversation with the MI camp. Star Sports ticker says that there is an inspection at 10.45 pm. So the delay is confirmed. Jaiswal and Buttler are deep in conversation after what has been their best start of the season so far 

We still have not cut to live pictures. Perhaps the restart is further delayed. 

Some RR social media fun

current update: pic.twitter.com/0cy1I6mPzO

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 22, 2024

The blue main covers are coming off too and MI players are out warming up on the outfield. Restart is around 10.30 pm 

Pictures on Star Sports show the outer white covers coming off, rain must have subsidised already. 

We are awaiting information on the DLS par score but we imagine 61/0 is well above par at this stage, it's a fair assumption. 

STAT ALERT (By Lalith Kalidas): For the first time in his T20 career since 2007, Ravichandran Ashwin goes wicketless in six consecutive matches. He had had a similar five-game wicketless run during the 2021 IPL.

Meanwhile, some reading as Chahal reaches a milestone... 

The leading wicket-taker in IPL history, Yuzvendra Chahal touched a never-heard before milestone in the history of the league on Monday. Removing Mohammad Nabi in his first over against the Mumbai Indians, Chahal became the first bowler to pick 200 wickets in IPL.

Rajasthan Royals need 119 runs in 84 balls at 8.5 rpo, firmly under their control. 

The pitches are covered with blue sheets... and now the white covers come on too to cover more areas of the outfield. That is not a good sign either. We wait for information on the DLS score. 

For starters, 6 overs are done in the 2nd innings, so we WILL have a result tonight, 2 points will go to some side. It won't be a No Result. The teams are heading off into the dressing room it looks like, so that means an immediate resumption is not likely. 

Well, where did that come from? Rain stops play in Jaipur 

WHAT A START! RR, for everything they have done well this season, haven't quite nailed the opening partnership and today that's a tick too. JosWal go big in that 6th over, two fours each in Tushara's over. The last ball is a very ordinary fielding effort by Hardik at mid-off, should have been cut off it looked like. The bowler didn't seem pleased. 

That's a big over for RR, not necessarily for the volume of runs but to put away Bumrah for two fours is priceless. Buttler with a super pull in front of square, Jaiswal finishes the over with a punch through cover. 

Bumrah to get another over in the powerplay, from the other end now. MI need a breakthrough so they are going all in. 

Jaiswal starts the Coetzee over with a lovely six down the ground. But Coetzee cranks up the heat after that, beating Jaiswal for pace. He has struggled with that this year and nearly is done in by a 149kph short ball. But the edge is over the keeper for another four. Some serious pace in that over. But Jaiswal finishes well with a punch through cover for four. Big over for RR. 

Tushara's not quite a heavy slinger as Malinga or Pathirana is, kind of an in-between action from full vertical and the heavy side on of the other two. Decent start too, six singles. One terrific yorker to Buttler. 

MI's new slinga, Nuwan Tushara, for his first taste of IPL. Can he have an impact? 

Masterful first over from Bumrah as he keeps Buttler and Jaiswal quiet... even a low full toss last ball is saved as Rohit gets down well to field it at first slip. 

#ViratKohli can hit a 40-ball century and he must open with #RohitSharma at the #T20WorldCup for India: Sourav Ganguly. #CricketTwitter #IPL2024 https://t.co/YUskgUfnQz

— Pratyush Raj (@pratyush93_raj) April 22, 2024

Bumrah time! He has a good record against Buttler. 

Expensive first over from Hardik Pandya. One hand comes off the bat handle twice from Buttler, and both occasions he has timed the ball well enough for it to reach the boundary. The second one especially, uff. Seemed like he was late to the ball but it flew off the bat.

A cap for Nuwan Tushara from Malinga, and Jos Buttler walks out to bat. Two Impact Subs for the second half.

Hardik Pandya’s struggles with the bat continued on Monday night. On his best days, a full ball that’s just short of blockhole on the leg and middle would be flamboyantly flicked over for a six and a four. And when Trent Boult offered one such delivery from round the stumps, Hardik still couldn’t use the angle, and tamely pushed it back to the bowler.
On his best day, full ball well outside off would be carved over backward point. When Avesh Khan delivered on just on that spot, Hardik couldn’t get a touch. Instead he DRSed for a wide but it was never going to be one as he was already outside off stump in his stance. 
On his good days, length balls from spinners would be walloped but instead he push-drove Yuzvendra Chahal. There was a neatly-timed four off Chahal, driven straight, but that came with a bit of help from the fielder at long-on who misfielded. 
Then that dismissal ball from Avesh Khan. A low dipping full toss on the middle and leg and Hardik swiped and missed to be trapped plumb in front.

 By Sriram Veera

Bumrah gets a double off the last ball and MI finish short of 180, which is not bad given their start but is poor considering their recovery. Sandeep Sharma with a five-for, Nehal and Tilak with solid knocks for MI. 

IT IS A FIVE-FOR! Sandeep Sharma with a super comeback. Low full toss to Tim David, and he has to clear the long boundary but gets just height and not enough distance. Riyan takes a nice catch at deep midwicket. What an over from Sandy.