Abu Dhabi: Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten 60 runs, Suryakumar Yadav's 40, Ishan's 37 and Saurav's 34 runs helped Mumbai Indians (MI) to score 195 runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 45th match of 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Sunday. However, a long-standing unbeaten partnership of Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson lead RR towards victory. RR won the match by scoring 196 runs at a loss of 2 wickets.
With a winning target of 196 runs, RR's openers Robin Uthappa and Ben Stokes started the chase. Both had a good start. However, James Pattinson dismissed Uthappa in the 2nd over. Uthappa scored 13 runs off 10 balls.
With departure of Uthappa, Steve Smith entered the arena. However, he also departed early in the 5th over. Pattinson got his 2nd big wicket in the match.
At the end of the powerplay, RR was 55 at loss of 2 wickets.
With a long-standing partnership of Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson, MI scored 99 runs by the end of 10 overs. Meanwhile, Stokes scored his fifty. He scored 53 runs off 28 deliveries.
Later, Samson also scored his fifty off 27 deliveries. He recorded his 13th IPL fifty. Then, Stokes was at 73 runs.
Remaining unbeaten, Stokes scored 107 runs off 60 balls while Samson scored 54 runs off 31 balls taking the total runs on the scoreboard to 196/2.
Related Story: IPL 2020: MI Score 195/5 Against RR, Hardik Remains Unbeaten With 60
Hardik Pandya smashed a whopping seven sixes and two fours on his way to 60 off 21 balls to propel Mumbai Indians to 195/5 against Rajasthan Royals.
Pandya came in after MI captain Kieron Pollard was dismissed off the last ball of the 13th over. He got off to a slow start and was dropped by Rahul Tewatia at deep midwicket in the 16th over when he was six off seven balls. Saurabh Tiwary smashed 17 runs in the next over after which Pandya took off.
He hit four sixes in the 18th over bowled by Ankit Rajpoot and the over produced 27 runs. Kartik Tyagi bowled the last over in which Pandya hit three sixes and two fours, thus sending another over for 27 runs.
Earlier, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan put up an 83-run partnership for the second wicket but RR made their way back into the game with quick wickets in the middle overs. Pandya's onslaught, however, shifted the momentum back towards the four-time champions.
Earlier today, MI won the toss and chose to bat against RR.