Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 124 in vain as Suryakumar, David carry Mumbai to six-wicket win

MUMBAI: Yashasvi Jaiswal’s magnificent 124 went in vain as Suryakumar Yadav (55) and Tim David (45 not out) carried five-time champions Mumbai Indians to a six-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in the 1000th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) in a run-fest at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.

Mumbai looked in trouble when they were 104/3 in 12 overs in their IPL 2023 clash. But Suryakumar smashed 20 runs off the 13th over from Kuldeep Sen and from there on, he never looked back, hitting eight fours and two sixes while David was brilliant in smacking two fours and five humongous sixes for Mumbai to go to seventh place in the points table with the highest successful chase in IPL at the venue.

Mumbai didn’t have a great start to chasing 213 as captain Rohit Sharma was castled by a knuckleball from Sandeep Sharma in the second over. Cameron Green walked in and smashed Trent Boult for three fours through mid-off, mid-on and point, before slog-sweeping Ravichandran Ashwin over deep backward square leg for six and slamming Yuzvendra Chahal down the ground for another maximum.

After Ishan Kishan sliced to deep point off Ravichandran Ashwin, Suryakumar launched his first ball for six over backward square leg. He then slammed Jason Holder for a hat-trick of fours through the wristy flick, whip and a jaw-dropping ramp. Though Green holed out to the deep off Ashwin, Suryakumar ensured the tempo didn’t drop.

The crowd roared more in the 13th over when Suryakumar nonchalantly flicked Kuldeep Sen for six into the second tier of deep backward square leg, followed by three consecutive fours – a cut through deep point was followed by driving in the gap between mid-off and extra cover and dabbing over short third-man.

Yuzvendra Chahal came in for thrashing in the next over as Suryakumar pierced the gap between short third man and backward point for four, followed by Tilak Varma reverse-sweeping for four and unfurling lofted drive over long-off for six. After Suryakumar reached his fifty in 24 balls, he drove o’er Holder’s head with a straight bat for four.

But in a bid to ramp off Trent Boult in the 16th over, Suryakumar fell as Sandeep ran backwards from short fine leg and made a full-stretched dive to complete a fantastic catch with both hands. Tilak Varma and David hit a four and six each off Holder in the 17th over, before taking a four each off Boult in the next over.

David smashed Sandeep over long-on for six and launched a drive through cover for four, before swiping thrice over the leg-side fence for a hat-trick of sixes in the first three balls of the final over, ironically all full tosses, to seal a dramatic win for Mumbai coming just ten minutes before Sunday got over.

Earlier, Jaiswal smashed the highest score by an uncapped Indian batter in the IPL through his stunning 124 off 62 balls and propelled Rajasthan Royals to a massive 212/7, while also the joint-highest individual score ‘n the franchise’s history.

Jaiswal shone the brightest by mixing solidity in technique and power in shots that were conventional and innovative while using the crease well in hitting 16 fours and eight sixes at a strike rate of 200 in an innings where the next best score was just 18.

He made 41 runs off 23 balls in Power-play and amassed 44 runs off 25 balls in the middle overs, before smacking 39 runs off 14 balls in the death overs in a scintillating show of batsmanship.

Jaiswal continued from where he left in Jaipur, hooking off Green and Jofra Archer for sixes. He tore into Riley Meredith for four boundaries in the fifth over – a loft over mid-on was followed by driving through cover, slicing behind point and slamming one down the ground. Post power-play, Mumbai had success when Jos Buttler miscued a loft to long-on off Piyush Chawla.