Sanju Samson and Karun Nair conjured up responsible knocks under pressure as Rajasthan Royals overcame a slow start to post an imposing 189 for four against Mumbai Indians in their crucial IPL match, here today.
Samson scored 74 off 47 balls while Nair took 27 balls for his 50-run knock as the two young batsmen shared a 100-run stand in 57 balls after early departure of Shane Watson.
Samson, who opened the innings instead of Ajinkya Rahane, hit three sixes and seven fours, while Nair's knock was studded with two sixes and seven fours.
Big-hitting Australians Brad Hodge (29 not out) and James Faulkner (23 off 12 balls) then joined hands in the last five overs to add 49 runs for the fourth wicket.
Royals were 59 for one at half-way mark and went on to score 130 runs in the last 10 overs.
Mumbai need to win the match inside 14.3 overs to edge out their rivals on better net run rate to qualify for the play-offs.
The tall Faulker swung Harbhajan Singh for successive sixes over mid wicket and a square cut four in the offie's final over, 17th of the innings, to take the score past 150.
Faulkner slammed one more six before holing out to Corey Anderson in the deep off Pollard while Hodge remained unbeaten at the other end.
Mumbai felt the absence of the injured Praveen Kumar and death-bowling expert Lasith Malinga. Main hope Harbhajan was carted for 43 runs for the wicket of Watson while the others too failed to stop the flow of runs.
Asked to bat first, the Royals were kept pegged back by some accurate bowling from Jasprit Bumrah who even bowled a maiden over to Watson.
Samson showed aggressive intent from the first ball and hit Corey Anderson for an on-driven four. He then hit Bumrah's full toss for another four and then slog swept Pragyan Ojha for a six.
