Sharjah, (Samajweekly) A sensational bowling performance by Nathan Coulter-Nile (4/14) and James Neesham (3/12) helped Mumbai Indians restrict Rajasthan Royals to a paltry total of 90/9 in the 51st match of the IPL 2021 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, here on Tuesday.
Apart from Coulter-Nile and James Neesham, Jasprit Bumrah (2/14) also picked two crucial wickets for Mumbai. Opener Evin Lewis was the top-scorer for Rajasthan with his 24.
Put into bat first, openers Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal gave Rajasthan Royals a flying start. The duo hit multiple boundaries and took Rajasthan to 26/0 after 3 overs.
However, Mumbai fought back with quick wickets. Nathan Coulter-Nile gave his team the first breakthrough as he dismissed Jaiswal for 12. Yashasvi looked to cut a wide delivery short outside off stump but ended up nicking the ball to keeper Kishan.
Jasprit Bumrah then removed the dangerous Evin Lewis (24 off 19 balls), leaving Rajasthan struggling at 41/2 in 5.3 overs.
James Neesham, who was playing his first match of UAE leg of IPL 2020, then struck on his very first ball to get rid of Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson (3). Few overs later, Kiwi all-rounder grabbed his second wicket of the game as he dismissed Shivam Dube (3), who dragged a full and wide delivery outside off stump onto the stumps.
Thereafter, Rajasthan kept on losing wickets one after another and struggled to score all throughout the innings.
All the batters — Glenn Phillips (4), David Miller (15), Rahul Tewatia (12), Shreyas Gopal (0), Chetan Sakariya (6), who came to bat next couldn’t get going and got out cheaply.
In the end, Rajasthan somehow managed to post a total of 90/9 in 20 overs. Mustafizur Rahman (8) and Kuldip Yadav remained not out at the crease.
This is the lowest total at Sharjah in IPL history and the lowest for RR this season.
Brief scores:
Rajasthan Royals 90/9 in 20 overs (Evin Lewis 24, D Miller 15; Nathan Coulter-Nile 4/14 and James Neesham 3/12 ) against Mumbai Indians.
