Yashasvi Jaiswal blitz powers Royals to third straight win

Yashasvi Jaiswal's 32-ball 77* (10 fours & 4 sixes) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's blistering 14-ball 39 (1 four & 5 sixes) set up Rajasthan Royals' comfortable 27-run win over Mumbai Indians in a rain-hit encounter in Guwahati. In an 11-over contest, which began at 10:10 PM India time, Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi's 80-run opening stand in only five overs set the base for RR's powerful total of 150 for 3. Early top order wickets left MI with a lot to do, and they ended up getting only 123 for 9, with the win taking the Royals to the top of the table.

A score of 59 for no loss in a Powerplay of 3.2 overs summed up a frenetic start from the Royals, with the openers making optimum use of the field restrictions - not that it would have mattered considering the seven sixes between them in this phase. Jaiswal set the tone with four fours and a six off Deepak Chahar in a 22-run opening over, before the fearless Sooryavanshi took on Jasprit Bumrah, flicking and pulling the premier quick for two effortless sixes. The assault continued as the pair added three more sixes in Trent Boult's 22-run third over to surge past 50.

A four-run over from Hardik Pandya in the fourth provided a brief respite before Sooryavanshi resumed the charge, smashing two sixes and a four off Shardul Thakur, only to fall at deep cover in the same over. AM Ghazanfar, brought in for Mitchell Santner, briefly stemmed the flow by dismissing Dhruv Jurel and conceding nine in his first over. MI still had a couple of Bumrah overs left, with one bowler allowed to bowl a maximum of three. Having gone for 14 in his first, Bumrah gave away only eight in his second over.

Pandya returned for his second over and was hit for a four by Jaiswal, who brought up a 23-ball fifty and took RR past 100, before Parag struck the last ball for a six. A four for Jaiswal and a six for Parag came in Ghazanfar's next over but the Afghanistan spinner ended the RR skipper's stay. A maximum for Jaiswal off Bumrah in the 10th over saw the bowler finish with 0 for 32 - his third successive wicketless outing. Jaiswal laid the finishing touches to the innings with three fours off Thakur, powering RR to 150.

MI's start was in complete contrast to RR, with early wickets denying them the platform. Ryan Rickelton, after striking a six off Jofra Archer, was out miscuing soon after. Suryakumar Yadav endured something similar - caught in the deep after a miscued pull, following a scoop-sweep for a six off Nandre Burger. A review failed to aid Rohit Sharma, with Sandeep Sharma getting the better of this match-up again and conceding only three in his over to leave MI reeling at 22 for 3. Despite a six for Tilak Varma off Tushar Deshpande, MI's Powerplay yielded only 30 runs.

The procession continued as Pandya fell to Ravi Bishnoi after a boundary, with Varma meeting the same fate later in the over, reducing MI to 46 for 5 after five overs. The required rate crossed 18 at the end of the sixth over despite Naman Dhir getting a six and a four off Sandeep. Sherfane Rutherford, meanwhile, had a couple of lucky breaks as Ravindra Jadeja missed a direct hit and Jaiswal dropped a catch. Rutherford capitalised, hitting a couple of sixes off Deshpande before getting out to the same bowler.

It came down to 57 off 18 balls and Dhir struck two fours off Burger, but the bowler had the last laugh. MI needed 44 off the last two overs but didn't come anywhere close as Sandeep and Archer wrapped it up with quiet overs.

Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 150/3 in 11 overs [Yashasvi Jaiswal 77* (32), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 39 (14); AM Ghazanfar 2-21] beat Mumbai Indians 123/9 in 11 overs [Sherfane Rutherford 25 (8), Naman Dhir 25 (13); Sandeep Sharma 2-26] by 27 runs.

What next for the teams?

The Royals stay back in Guwahati for their final home game at this venue, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on April 10. MI head back home to play against RCB on April 12 at the Wankhede stadium.