Suryakumar Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah dismantle Rajasthan Royals

An inventive 79 not out off 47 balls from Suryakumar Yadav - his highest score in the IPL - carried the Mumbai Indians to 193 for 4, setting up their fourth victory in six matches this IPL. In pursuit of a tall target, the Rajasthan Royals lost three wickets in the powerplay, including that of their captain Steven Smith and Sanju Samson. Jos Buttler then slugged a 44-ball 70, threatening a comeback, but the Royals were ultimately dismissed for 136 in 18.1 overs.

The 57-run victory - which also featured a fearsome Jasprit Bumrah spell (4-20) - meant Mumbai climbed to the top of the points table followed by the Delhi Capitals, who have played one match fewer, at No.2.

After Quinton de Kock and Rohit Sharma sped away to 49-run opening stand, Yadav, in contrast, got off to a slow start - he was on 12 off 11 balls at one point. He watched Sharma and Ishan Kishan hole out off successive balls. He then watched Krunal Pandya, who was promoted to No.5 ahead of his younger brother Hardik and Kieron Pollard, struggle to 12 off 17 balls. However, Yadav's wide range of strokes ensured Mumbai still took 68 from their last five overs and finished very strongly.

De Kock, who regained form with 67 against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Sharjah, set the tone in Abu Dhabi, too, with a crisp four off the first delivery from Ankit Rajpoot, who was picked ahead of left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat. The ball slid onto the bat in the early exchanges, with Sharma also using the extra pace of Rajpoot to his advantage. After launching him into the Royals dug out over the long-off fence, he sat back, waiting for the short ball and cracked it away to the left of sweeper cover.

Smith used as many as five bowlers in the powerplay, but it was 19-year old debutant Kartik Tyagi who produced the breakthrough when he bounced out de Kock for 23. Sharma progressed to 35 before legspinner Shreyas Gopal had him caught at long-on with a wrong'un. His first delivery to Kishan, too was a wrong'un, which he spliced to extra-cover. Mumbai were 88 for 3 in the 10th over.

'Catch me if you can'

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— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) October 6, 2020

After using his long reach to get to a pitch of a Gopal legbreak and pump it over extra-cover, Yadav hung back and placed Tyagi either side of third man for fours. Another great piece of placement - late-cut between the keeper and short third man for four brought him a fifty off 33 balls.

The Royals had reserved two overs of Jorfra Archer for Pollard and Hardik at the death, but in the end Pollard wasn't needed at all. While Hardik forced Archer down the ground for four, Yadav unfurled his ramps and scoops to pepper the 'V' behind the wicket. Thirty seven of his 79 runs came in that region. It was quite fitting that he helped finish the innings with a ramped four. Hardik did his bit in the unbroken 76-run stand with Yadav off six overs, contributing 30 off 19 balls.

Trent Boult found swing with the new ball once again, removing Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck in the first over of the chase. Then, in the next over as Bumrah opened the bowling for the first time this season, Smith fell swiping wildly for the third time in three matches. When Boult drew a top-edged pull from Samson to mid-on, the Royals were 12 for 3 in the third over.

Buttler played himself in, getting to a run-a-ball 24 before exploding against the slower bowlers. He claimed 49 off 24 balls from Krunal, Rahul Chahar and Pollard.

It needed a spectacular catch at the long-on boundary from Pollard - another special from the specialist T20 outfielder that will likely break YouTube - to get rid of Buttler in the 14th over. Royals lost their last five wickets for 38 runs and their third game in a row. The punches weren't done yet. Long after the game was done, the IPL fined Smith INR 12 lakh for slow over-rate.