11th April 2010, Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur: They say ‘Catches win matches’ and Rajasthan Royals dropped an important catch which proved to be extremely expensive for them. Aditya Dole dropped Sachin Tendulkar on 45 and he took full advantage of this and made a brilliant unbeaten 89 (59b, 4X10, 2X6) which turned out to be the turning point of the match.
It was just not RR’s day as they were completely outplayed by the Mumbai Indians (MI). RR won the toss and elected to bowl first and after four overs they reduced MI to 34 for 3 as Shane Watson (3/37) wrecked MI’s top-order. But then Sachin Tendulkar was still at the crease and he resurrected the MI innings. He first shared a 63 run partnership with JP Duminy and then 50-run stand with Kieron Pollard. After 15 overs MI were 106/4 but from then on they picked up the tempo and ended with a score of 174/5 in 20 overs.
Chasing 175, RR lost their in-form opener Michael Lumb in the second over when a fiercely struck cut shot went straight to JP Duminy at backward point. Naman Ojha followed him soon edging Zaheer Khan to Sachin Tendulkar at first slip. RR got further jolts as their next three batsmen were all run-out due to misunderstandings. Especially the run-out of Shane Watson was very vital for RR’s chances of winning the game. Adam Voges (28 runs, 27b, and 2X4) tried his best but the rising run-rate got better of him as well. Yusuf Pathan could not produce the magic he produced against Mumbai Indians earlier on in the tournament as he departed after scoring only 10 runs. At the end of the innings Abhishek Raut and Aditya Dole (30 runs, 18b, 2X4, 1X6) struck some lusty blows to get RR to 137 in 20 overs, 37 runs short of MI’s score.
RR do not have much time to think about this defeat as they face a bigger challenge of winning their next two matches to make it to the semi-finals. For that to happen RR should not repeat the mistakes they made in this game. They should give special importance to their death bowling and fielding. Even the running between the wickets was very sloppy in this match and RR should improve this in the next game. All RR fans would be hoping that RR comes through in these must-win matches as this is the team which has always come-up trumps when they are put under pressure.
Match details:
Match: RR Vs MI
Date: 11th April, 2010
Venue: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
Toss: Rajasthan Royals, who chose to field
MoM: Sachin Tendulkar
Breif scores:
MI – 174/5 – S Tendulkar 89* (59b, 10X4, 2X6), J P Duminy 31 (32b, 4X4) S Watson 4-0-37-3
RR – 137/8 – A Dole 30 (18b, 2X4, 1X6) A Voges 28 (27b, 2X4,) Z Khan 4-1-17-2
Result: MI won by 37 runs.