Suryakumar Yadav played a key role in Mumbai Indians’ (MI) thumping 57-run victory over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (October 6).

Batting at No. 3, the right-hander smashed 79 not out off 47 balls (11 fours and 2 sixes) to take MI’s total to 193/4 in 20 overs. In the process, he also shared an unbroken 75-run stand for the fifth wicket with Hardik Pandya in just 38 deliveries.

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After the match, MI skipper Rohit Sharma showered rich praise on Suryakumar, saying his shot-making was perfect against the Royals.

"I spoke to him today before the match. He was batting really well all these games. It was all about shotmaking - today his shot-making was perfect. All the innovative shots at the end came in handy," said Rohit during the post-game presentation ceremony.

Defending the total, MI bundled out RR for 136 in 18.1 overs, with the pace troika of Jasprit Bumrah (4-20), Trent Boult (2-26) and James Pattinson (2-19) doing the bulk of the damage.

By virtue of this big victory, the defending champions also climbed to the top position on the points table, with 4 wins from 6 games.

"We strive to play with power. We've got quality in this squad. We've given confidence to each one of them because we know they're very talented. The conditions are quite helpful [for our fast bowlers]. We were not sure how the pitches were going to be, whether it'd be helpful for our pace battery," said Rohit.

"But it was nipping around and it's good to have guys who can exploit those conditions. The fielding was brilliant, it's something we take pride in. We've worked hard on it after coming here. I'm glad that we can pull off those magnificent catches," he concluded.

Mumbai Indians will take on Delhi Capitals in their next game on October 11.