Yashasvi Jaiswal struck form with an unbeaten 104 as Rajasthan Royals consolidated their position at the top of the IPL table with a nine-wicket thrashing of Mumbai Indians on Monday.
Medium-pace bowler Sandeep Sharma took 5-18 to help restrict Mumbai to 179-9 after Yuzvendra Chahal claimed an IPL first of 200 wickets at Rajasthan’s home ground in Jaipur.
Jaiswal, a left-handed opener whose previous best this season was 39, steered the team home in 18.4 overs in an innings interrupted by rain.
“I really enjoyed from the start and I made sure I was watching the ball properly and playing proper cricketing shots,” said Jaiswal.
“I’m trying to do what I am doing well, some days it comes good and some days it doesn’t, I’m not thinking much.”
Rajasthan, who won the inaugural IPL in 2008 under late Australian hero Shane Warne, registered their seventh win in eight matches
Jaiswal struck his second IPL hundred – both versus Mumbai — as he smashed nine fours and seven sixes in his 60-ball knock and put on 109 runs with skipper Sanju Samson, who made 38.
Sharma set up victory his first ever five-wicket haul in T20 cricket as he took the spotlight away from Chahal’s remarkable feat and was named man of the match.
Chahal sent back Mohammad Nabi caught and bowled for 23 with his leg-spin as he celebrated the achievement with hugs from teammates.
But Chahal was taken for 48 runs in four overs and Sharma stood out after he took three wickets in the 20th over including Tilak Varma, who top-scored with 65, and Tim David, who made three.
Chahal was substituted with Jos Buttler coming in as impact player and he began with two boundaries in the opening over by skipper Hardik Pandya, who played his landmark 100th IPL match.
Pandya has endured a tough time this season after he replaced veteran Rohit Sharma as skipper only to be booed by the fans across venues.
“After the game, it’s not the right time to go to the players, everyone is professional, they know their roles,” said Pandya.
“What we can do is learn from this game and the mistakes which we have made, rectify it and make sure that we don’t repeat it.”
The left-handed Jaiswal joined in the charge as he hit South African speedster Gerald Coetzee for a six and two fours to get the chase underway.
Rajasthan raced to 61-0 in six overs when rain stopped play and action resumed after 45 minutes.
Piyush Chawla bowled Buttler for 35 after the break but Jaiswal stood firm and in the company of Samson made the chase a cakewalk.
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