Steve Smith lead from the front by scoring an unbeaten 59, as Rajasthan Royals defeated the Mumbai Indians by 5 wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Saturday.
Mumbai Indians included Mayank Markande for Jayant Yadav, while Rajasthan Royals brought in Smith, Ben Stokes and Riyan Parag for Jos Buttler, Ish Sodhi and Rahul Tripathi.
After being sent into bat by Rajasthan skipper, Mumbai Indians lost skipper Rohit Sharma to Shreyas Gopal for 5.
The pair of Quinton De Kock and Suryakumar Yadav anchored the innings by adding 97 runs for the second wicket, before Stuart Binny in the 14th over broke through by claiming the latter for a well made 34.
Quinton De Kock who was dropped by Jofra Archer at long on made most of the opportunity as he reached his half century off 34 balls before being caught by Stokes.
Hardik Pandya played a quick cameo by scoring 23 off 15 balls, as Mumbai Indians posted a competitive score of 161/5 in their allotted 20 overs.
Shreyas Gopal was Mumbai Indians best bowler as he claimed 2/21 in 4 overs.
Chasing a target of 162, Rajasthan Royals opening pair of Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson got their of to a fantastic start, as the duo added 39 runs for the opening stand before Rahul Chahar claimed the wicket of Rahane for 12.
After the powerplay Chahar struck twice by bagging the wickets of Samson and Ben Stokes to give the visitors some hope.
Smith got support from young Riyan Parag as the duo put on 70 runs for the fourth wicket to take the target within touching distance, before the latter was run out by a brilliant throw from Ben Cutting.
Former Australia skipper Steve Smith reached his fifty off just 40 deliveries. Mumbai Indians strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah dismissed Ashton Turner leg before wicket for duck to send jitters in the home side camp.
Stuart Binny held his nerve and scored the winning runs, as Rajasthan reached the target of 162 with 5 balls to spare.
Rahul Chahar was Mumbai Indians best bowler
Steve Smith was declared the Man of the Match. The 39th match of the IPL will be a double header with Sunrisers Hyderabad taking on Kolkata Knight Riders, and Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on Chennai Super Kings at Bengalaru on 21 April 2019.
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