Dominant openers lead Rajasthan Royals to comfortable win over Mumbai Indians
RR – 150/3 in 11 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 77* off 32 balls) beat MI – 123/9 in 11 overs by 27 runs
Man of the Match: Yashasvi Jaiswal
Rajasthan Royals (RR) completed a huge win over Mumbai Indians (MI) on the back of a blistering performance from their openers, in the rain-shortened match of the 2026 IPL tournament in Guwahati, and in the process climbed to the top of the table while one of the pre-tournament favorites, MI, is languishing among the bottom four.
The day started gloomily for the spectators as persistent rain made it look as if the play might get abandoned. However, things turned brighter once the rain stopped and time was left for an 11-over-a-side match. MI won an important toss. Captain Hardik Pandya, returning from sickness in the last match, predictably elected to field first. His team might have expected the ball to swing under overcast conditions and restrict RR to a manageable score. Teams generally prefer to bat second in rain-shortened matches as they feel that they have an advantage with the knowledge of the target. But it can all go pear-shaped in case the team batting first manages to get an insurmountable target.
The Yashasvi – Vaibhab show
Once the Royals’ innings started, contrary to MI expectations, the only thing that swung was the two RR openers’ bats. RR may have arguably got two of the most explosive young batsmen playing for any team in the world. In the previous two matches, it was 15-year-old Vaibhab Sooryavanshi who had taken the lead, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, at only 24 years of age, played the responsible role of the elder statesman. But here, he started with a sequence of 4,6,4,0,4,4 in the very first over, bowled by Deepak Chahar to set the tone of the coming assault. The first two balls were half trackers that were hit powerfully on the leg side. The remaining over was all full and were duly disposed of straight or on the off side for boundaries.
One of the most anticipated moments came when Sooryavanshi faced Bumrah for the first time next over. The future vs the present. And the teen just hit the first ball he faced over mid-on for six in the most nonchalant manner possible. The over contained another six by Sooryavanshi, and for fans of a certain vintage, they may have been reminded of another precocious 16-year-old who had taken a great Pakistani leg spinner to the cleaners back almost 40 years ago. One can only hope and wish for the best.
Trent Boult came next and got dispatched for 3 sixes, two of them by Jaiswal. MI bowlers, in their bid for swing, erred by bowling too full and got punished for it. It was only once Hardik came for the fourth over and started bowling the hard lengths to give away four runs in the over that things settled down. He showed the others how to bowl on this pitch. But the previous 3 overs had gone for 58, and the horse may have already bolted.
Shardul Thakur then came for some hammering for two sixes and a four, and could have had some more but was lucky to get Sooryavanshi out. A full ball outside off was absolutely hammered to deep cover, and Tilak Verma took a smart catch. For a second, it seemed that the momentum of the ball might take him over the boundary. A foot either way would have certainly resulted in another six.
In a rain-shortened match, especially in T20, the limited number of overs leads to a magnifying effect on the scorecard. The openers scored a combined 116 runs off 46 balls (out of a total of possible 66 legal balls). In a full T20 match, this would have been spectacular. Here, however, in a 11 overs per innings game, the effect was even more devastating, and they had virtually sealed the match in their favour by the time the first innings was over.
Mumbai Indians adjust their bowling length.
Score at the end of 5 overs read 80/1. And RR were up and away to an impregnable target. Dhruv Jurel could not get going. Riyan Parag played a neat little cameo of 20 runs off 10 balls while Hetmyer struggled to get his timing in the 7 balls he faced. Jaiswal at the other end was there to finish off the innings on a high and ended at 77 not out off 32 balls.
Mumbai bowlers arguably bowled better in the second half of their innings, but such was the assault they faced in the first few overs, and with RR wickets in hand, MI were always playing catch-up. The pacers adjusted their length back to keep away from the batsmen’s hitting arc, and the lone spinner Ghazanfar did relatively well to pick up two wickets. But a target of 150 off just 11 overs was too daunting.
Mumbai goes nowhere in the chase.
Chasing such a target, while not impossible in modern-day cricket, requires a turbocharged opening stand from the batsmen. But RR has a good bowling attack, and they learned from their opponents’ mistakes.
A strong leg side player, opener Ryan Rickelton hit a Jofra Archer length ball over deep mid-wicket for a six. The very next ball, he tried to repeat the shot to a shorter and more offside ball and managed to launch it high in the Guwahati nighttime sky, where wicketkeeper Jurel took a very good catch. The very next over, Suryakumar hit Burger with his favourite paddle sweep for a six, and a couple of balls later in the same over picked out Archer at deep backward square leg to an off-pace delivery. Next, Sandeep Sharma bowled a yorker-length ball to Rohit Sharma, who tried to scoop it and was adjudged LBW by the umpire. After contemplating for some time, he bizarrely took one of the worst reviews taken in recent times by any top-order batsman. With the ball nowhere close to the bat and the ball hitting the bottom of the middle stump, he walked away with a wasted review and his team in tatters. By the end of 3 overs, MI were 25/3, and with the asking rate being 15.75, the match was effectively over, despite some of the best hitters in the game still to come.
RR bowlers bowled intelligently with their cutters, and the next two batsmen, Tilak Verma and Hardik Pandya, struggled for timing. Or the fact of the matter was that there was just too much to do. Ravi Bishnoi bowled a brilliant fifth over and accounted for both of them. Sherfane Rutherford, one of the fiercest six hitters in the world, and Naman Dhir tried their best in a 47-run partnership off 17 balls before Rutherford was done in by a spectacular Sandeep Sharma catch off Tushar Deshpande. After that, it was all about managing the net run rate. Five of the RR bowlers shared 9 wickets among them, with each of them getting at least one wicket.
The loss would be a night to forget for MI as it leaves the precariously in the table standings with the net run rate not looking great either. But what will sting them the most is that they were thoroughly outplayed by their opponent and were never in the game after the first 3 overs of the first innings.