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Skipper Steve Smith struck his maiden IPL half—century as the young Australian led Rajasthan Royals to a comfortable seven—wicket win over Mumbai Indians in their IPL cricket match, here today.
It was Royals’ third consecutive win while Mumbai suffered their third defeat in a row.
Chasing a challenging 165 to win, Royals romped home in 19.1 overs with Smith scoring an unbeaten 79 from 53 balls.
He was well supported by Ajinkya Rahane (46) as they raised a 64—run stand for the second wicket.
Smith shifted gears at will as he first relied on finding the gaps, running hard between the wickets and when needed, he found the boundaries effortlessly. He found the fence eight times and also smashed a six.
The decision to bat seemed to have backfired as Mumbai managed only 45 runs in the first 10 overs but the fiery 104—run stand between Kieron Pollard (70) and Corey Anderson (50) changed the team’s fortunes as they ended with a respectable 164 for five.
Pollard’s 70 came off just 34 balls as he punished the Royals bowlers with seven fours and five sixes while Anderson supported the Caribbean with a 38—ball 50.
Royals were steady in their chase despite losing Sanju Samson (17) early. There were no big shots to see but under the charismatic leader Smith, Royals kept a decent run—rate.
As has been Smith’s style, he rotated strike quickly with ones and twos with Ajinkya Rahane finding the odd boundary in between from the other end.
The strategy continued for some time but now Royals now needed 80 runs from the last eight over. The biggest plus was that they had nine wickets in hand.
Rahane was dismissed by Shreyas Gopal as he tried to accelerate. In came young sensation Deepak Hooda and he started the fireworks straightaway by hitting two sixes off Gopal.
Malinga, though, sent the exciting youngster back with his toe—crushing yorker that rattled his stumps.
The pressure built up with required run—rate now little over 10 but Smith not only kept one end tight but also started to score more briskly. He reached his maiden IPL fifty with two consecutive boundaries off Malinga.
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