Jaiswal blitz powers Rajasthan Royals to third straight win

Rajasthan Royals defeated Mumbai Indians by 27 runs in a rain-hit match in Guwahati thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal's 32-ball 77* (with 10 fours and 4 sixes) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi's blistering 14-ball 39 (with 1 four and 5 sixes). In an 11-over contest, which began at 10:10 PM India time, Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi's 80-run opening stand in only five overs set the base for RR's powerful total of 150 for 3. Early top order wickets left MI with a lot to do, and they ended up getting only 123 for 9, with the win taking the Royals to the top of the table. A frantic start by the Royals was summed up by a score of 59 for no loss in 3.2 overs of Powerplay, with the openers making the most of the field restrictions—not that it would have mattered given their seven sixes during this phase. Jaiswal set the tone with four fours and a six off Deepak Chahar in a 22-run opening over, before the fearless Sooryavanshi took on Jasprit Bumrah, flicking and pulling the premier quick for two effortless sixes. In Trent Boult's 22-run third over, the pair added three more sixes to push past 50. A four-run over from Hardik Pandya in the fourth provided a brief respite before Sooryavanshi resumed the charge, smashing two sixes and a four off Shardul Thakur, only to fall at deep cover in the same over. AM Ghazanfar, brought in for Mitchell Santner, briefly stemmed the flow by dismissing Dhruv Jurel and conceding nine in his first over. MI still had a couple of Bumrah overs left, with one bowler allowed to bowl a maximum of three. Having gone for 14 in his first, Bumrah gave away only eight in his second over. Pandya returned for his second over and was hit by Jaiswal for a four. He then hit 23 balls for fifty, pushing RR past 100, and Parag hit the final ball for a six. A four for Jaiswal and a six for Parag came in Ghazanfar's next over but the Afghanistan spinner ended the RR skipper's stay. Bumrah finished with 0 for 32 after Jaiswal scored a maximum off him in the 10th over, his third consecutive game without a wicket. Jaiswal laid the finishing touches to the innings with three fours off Thakur, powering RR to 150. MI's start was in complete contrast to RR, with early wickets denying them the platform. After hitting a six off Jofra Archer, Ryan Rickelton was out by miscueing shortly after. Suryakumar Yadav endured something similar - caught in the deep after a miscued pull, following a scoop-sweep for a six off Nandre Burger. A review failed to aid Rohit Sharma, with Sandeep Sharma getting the better of this match-up again and conceding only three in his over to leave MI reeling at 22 for 3. Despite a six for Tilak Varma off Tushar Deshpande, MI's Powerplay yielded only 30 runs. The procession continued as Pandya fell to Ravi Bishnoi after a boundary, with Varma meeting the same fate later in the over, reducing MI to 46 for 5 after five overs. The required rate crossed 18 at the end of the sixth over despite Naman Dhir getting a six and a four off Sandeep. In contrast, Sherfane Rutherford got lucky when Ravindra Jadeja missed a direct hit and Jaiswal missed a catch. Rutherford capitalised, hitting a couple of sixes off Deshpande before getting out to the same bowler. It came down to 57 off 18 balls and Dhir struck two fours off Burger, but the bowler had the last laugh. MI needed 44 off the last two overs but didn't come anywhere close as Sandeep and Archer wrapped it up with quiet overs.