When the decision was made to switch from the Indian Premier League (IPL) to the United Arab Emirates, most of the pre-tournament predictions favored teams with quality bowlers to dominate.
But it is the teams with firepower that have set the tone. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje lead the Delhi Capitals charge with 12 and seven plots each. Combining them well are the Mumbai Indian trio of Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah and James Pattinson. All five are in the top seven on the carrier list with Rabada and Boult leading the way. It’s no wonder Delhi and Mumbai are at the top of the table.
(Total IPL coverage 2020)
At the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday night, the trio of Mumbai Indians put on another brilliant display of rhythm bowling to overwhelm the Rajasthan Royals en route to a 57-run victory.
After his hitters hit 194/4, Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma unleashed all three in powerplay overs. At the end of the first six overs, RR was out of the contest and was reduced to 31 by three.
As in his win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, Boult was once again the star. He set the tone with starter Yashasvi Jaiswal’s wicket on the second ball of the match, getting him to lead with a moving ball off the stump. Boult continued to pluck the dangerous Sanju Samson with another clever execution targeting the batter’s weakness, the short ball.
Bumrah applied pressure from the other end by landing Steve Smith’s wicket in the second over. Boult and Bumrah stifled RR’s higher order in the first five overs and Pattinson ensured there was no respite in the final over before the field restrictions ended.
All three did one better than the last game in which they shared six wickets with each other. Here they shared eight with Bumrah choosing four fields and Boult and Pattinson two each.
Rajasthan was one of the teams that had a great record against Mumbai, having beaten them in their last four meetings. The grip was broken on Tuesday. His hitters have refused to learn from his mistakes. Smith was inside, throwing a savage push at Bumrah; he had come out playing a similar shot against Kolkata Knight Riders’ Pat Cummins. Ejected from a short ball in the previous game, Samson fell to the same throw again.
Previously, Suryakumar Yadav served the Mumbai Indians well. Coming to bat at No. 3, the Mumbai hitter scored 79 of 47 balls after Sharma had gotten off to a good start with 35 23-ball runs. Hardik Pandya secured a strong finish with a 30 of 19 balls.
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