Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], May 2: In a significant setback for Rajasthan Royals (RR), they faced their eighth defeat of the IPL 2025 season, losing by a staggering 100 runs to the revitalized Mumbai Indians (MI), who celebrated their seventh win and sixth consecutive victory on Thursday.
MI set a formidable target of 217 runs, showcasing a strategic batting approach that allowed them to maintain wickets and accelerate towards the end. In contrast, Rajasthan struggled to find their rhythm and faltered under the mounting pressure of the scoreboard.
After the match, Riyan Parag acknowledged the superior performance of MI, stating, “You have to commend MI for their batting. They managed to keep wickets intact.”
Parag added, “A score of 190-200 would have been ideal. We’ve been getting good starts, but it’s crucial for the middle order, including myself and Dhruv (Jurel), to step up. We’ve made several mistakes and need to focus on both our errors and the positives.”
His remarks highlight the growing concerns within the RR camp, particularly regarding the middle order's inability to finish strong.
Meanwhile, Mumbai Indians seem to be hitting their stride at the right moment, with their sixth consecutive win making them a formidable contender in the tournament.
This victory marked MI's sixth straight win after a rocky start, having lost four of their first five matches.
In pursuit of a challenging target of 218, RR opened with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Suryavanshi, but MI's Deepak Chahar dismissed Suryavanshi for a duck in the opening over. Nitish Rana joined Jaiswal but was soon out for 9 runs, bowled by Trent Boult.
Jaiswal himself fell shortly after, caught by Boult for just 13 runs. Rajasthan continued to lose wickets at regular intervals, with Parag and Jurel attempting to stabilize the innings. However, Parag was dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah, who also took out Shimron Hetmyer on the next delivery.
Impact player Shubham Dubey entered the fray but was quickly dismissed by MI captain Hardik Pandya. RR ended their power-play at a disappointing 62/5, with Jurel also falling to Karn Sharma for 11 runs.
Maheesh Theekshana joined Jofra Archer, but the latter was also dismissed by Karn Sharma, who took two wickets in his second over. RR struggled to reach 91/9 in 12 overs.
Archer and Akash Madhwal managed to add 26 runs for the last wicket, but MI's bowling attack, led by Karn Sharma and Trent Boult with three wickets each, proved too strong.
In the first innings, MI's openers got off to a blistering start, reaching 50 runs in just over five overs and finishing the powerplay at 58 without losing a wicket.
Rickelton was the first to reach his half-century, scoring 61 runs off 38 balls, while Rohit Sharma followed with 53 runs off 36 balls. Their partnership of 116 runs was broken by Theekshana, who dismissed Rickelton.
Despite losing Rohit, Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya took control, adding an unbeaten 94-run partnership, both finishing with 48 runs each off just 23 balls. Suryakumar capped off the innings with a six off the final ball, ensuring MI finished strong.
Only Theekshana and Parag managed to take wickets for RR.
