An entertaining yet astounding 59-ball hundred from Ben Stokes and his unbroken 152-run partnership (82 balls) with Sanju Samson helped Rajasthan Royals beat Mumbai Indians by eight wickets in their must-win IPL 2020 encounter in Abu Dhabi on Sunday (October 25).
In the 45th game of the IPL 2020, MI managed to post 195/5 on the board against RR thanks to Hardik Pandya’s unbeaten 60, Ishan Kishan, and Suryakuymar Yadav’s 37 and 40 respectively.
Chasing a mammoth target of 196 for victory, Robin Uthappa was sent to open the innings for Royals with Stokes but he yet again failed as he was removed by James Pattinson in the second over followed by captain Steve Smith for 11 by the same bowler.
Well, it was Stokes and Sanju Samson (54 runs from 31 balls) who took the charge of the team and played amazing shots to take RR over the line with 10 balls to spare against the top-ranked MI.
After an eight-wicket triumph over the defending champions, RR captain Smith heaped praise on the duo for their brilliant performance against MI, saying the Royals were “crying” for such innings so far in the ongoing IPL 2020 in the UAE.
However, with the massive win, RR managed to keep their IPL 13 playoffs hope alive but they have to win all remaining games with other equations to make it to the top four and Smith hopes his team will carry the momentum forward to the coming matches in the IPL 2020.
Smith told the host broadcaster Star Sports at the post-match presentation: “Very pleased, that's what we're crying for, use the experience, take the game deep and that's what both Stokes and Samson did. The wicket was playing good, the ball was coming onto the bat, there was the intent - the shots were flowing, they just played good cricketing shots - I thought the partnership was fantastic.”
He signed off by saying, “We played some good cricket in the first half, the dropped chance proved to be costly, perhaps we ended up giving away another 40-45 runs, but it didn't matter in the end. I hope our batters take the confidence from this match and play knocks which will help the team win.”
Noteworthy, the sixth-ranked RR will now face Kings XI Punjab on October 30 in their next IPL 2020 game at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
(With ANI Inputs)
