As it happened - MI top of the table, RR out of the playoffs

Mumbai Indians came into this game having never won in Jaipur since 2012. They must not have liked that very much because first, they posted the joint-highest IPL total at this ground, then trounced Rajasthan Royals by 100 runs and finally got back up on their perch on top of the points table. RR, meanwhile, were knocked out of the playoffs race.

RR's highest run-scorer tonight - Archer. Highest partnership - 10th wicket. They're going out of IPL 2025 with a whimper.

MI are giving their captain what he wants. Karn Sharma, the Impact Sub, has three wickets in 11 balls. He takes down Theekshana and Archer. RR are nine down.

At the timeout after nine overs, Hardik Pandya stood in the middle of an MI huddle and some amateur lip-reading was enough to see him say "finish them". MI aren't in the mood let this game drift. RR are 76 for 7 with Jofra Archer and Maheesh Theekshana batting.

Unhittable Bumrah in the seventh over.

Hardik gets the benefit of that in the eighth over.

MI have targeted Riyan Parag with the short ball. Trent Boult who usually looks for swing in his first over immediately banged it in first ball and had the batter in discomfort. Jasprit Bumrah did the same with his first ball to Parag. Eventually another bouncer is what takes him down. Parag again off his feet, unable to get his hands up high enough and only managing to top edge a catch to midwicket. Even as the ball was still going up, Parag shrugged his hands, as if to say "what more could I do against this guy."

That's not the only wicket in the over though. Shimron Hetmyer had a short leg to contend with when he came out to bat. He was met with a short ball too. Only he absooo-luuuuutely nailed it. Phat! Middle-of-the-bat. Firecracker sound. And then a nanosecond later, he was down on his knees, beaten, wondering just what was going on. All that power still wasn't enough to stop Suryakumar Yadav from pulling off the coolest catch at short midwicket.

The whole leveller theme continues into the second over as well. Yashasvi Jaiswal feels good enough to charge at one of the best new-ball bowlers in cricket regardless of the format. He takes Trent Boult for two sixes but then gets his stumps knocked back.

Cricket had the chance to avoid a cliche tonight. But it didn't even try. The last time RR had to chase down a 200-plus total, IPL history was made with 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi scoring a 35-ball century. Here, the first time he goes for a big shot, he gets out for a duck. This game just can't help but be a leveller.

A measure of the lasting impact of that innings is the Jaipur crowd having their hands on their head\s and the MI coach punching the air in the dugout. Men celebrating a boy's downfall but he's no ordinary boy.

Mumbai Indians came to Jaipur having not won there since 2012. They must not have liked that very much because they now have the joint-highest total at the ground in IPL cricket.

There were fifties from Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton that set up a platform. Their partnership broke at a good time for MI because it still left 8.1 overs for Suryakumar Yadav to have an influence. His team had set him up with a platform - 116 runs were already on the board - so he wasted no time. Suryakumar attacked six of the first seven balls he faced. The one he didn't was one he couldn't. It was wide, a mistake that he invites from the bowlers as they try to keep it off his hitting arc.

Suryakumar finished with 48 not out, an IPL record considering it was his 11 consecutive score of 25 or more. In an innings full of intent - he tried to hit a boundary off every other ball he faced - 13 attempts in 23 deliveries - there was always going to be jaw dropping moments and one of those happened in the 19th over when he nailed a full-speed Jofra Archer attempted yorker which became a full toss for four over short fine. He was rolling around on the floor, bat falling out of his hands, but he'd done the job.

At the other end, Hardik Pandya was just as destructive. His methods involve staying deep in the crease and exploiting the balls that miss the blockhole. Rohit is looking more and more like his old self. He had his timing. He was moving around the crease, manipulating both the field and the bowlers whether there was pace on or pace off. Rickelton, though, was the one who started it all off. RR tried to cramp him up and force him to hit to the longer leg side boundary and he took on the challenge. Thirty-four of his first 51 runs came on the leg side because he was so good playing the short-arm pull shot and holding his shape against the slower balls.

Two incredible things happened in the 19th over from Jofra Archer. One, SKY got down low, gave up his stumps and scooped a full speed delivery heading right for them for four. A measure of the margins involved in that shot is that SKY lost control of himself and his bat and was rolling around on the ground. He needed to get that low to get under the ball.

Later in the over, Archer switched toes for nose, and a slower bouncer almost got him his man except Kumar Kartikeya at deep third did not pick up the ball and let it bounce in front of him

RR are trying to go yorkers. But both of MI's batters are good at countering that length. SKY does it with his scoops. Hardik does it by taking guard deeeeeep in his crease so that he can still get under the ball in the blockhole - or perhaps more likely the ball that just misses the blockhole and ends up in the slot for him. It's in the slot because he's so deep in the crease. From there, the power he's got takes care of everything. MI's captain hits four boundaries in Farooqi's 18th over

With Sandeep Sharma out injured, RR will have to find other options for the death overs. Akash Madhwal, who used to do that role for MI for the last two seasons, came on for the 15th over and gave only singles and twos. He could also have had Hardik Pandya out caught with a slower ball that held in the wicket.

Maheesh Theekshana was doing well in the 16th over, recovering after the first ball went for four, until the genius of SKY swept the last ball for six.

He's faced six balls so far and he's tried to hit a boundary off each of them. Three of those attempts have come off.

RR tried to hide it wide outside off. They've tried to take pace off. Both just to deny him those scoop shots on the leg side. None of it is making a difference though. He stretched out to ramp a slower bouncer from Farooqi over short third. RR adjusted to that by bringing deep backward point finer. SKY adjusted to their adjustment by hitting the next ball squarer for four. He's already looking ominous.

Normally a wicket should bring relief for the bowling side. Here it brings Suryakumar Yadav. He's come in with a huge playtform to work with and he's tried to hit a boundary off both of the legal balls he's faced so far.

One of them pays off. The other is only a single. That brings Rohit back on strike and he gets out looking to hit his first six of the match. Clever stuff from Riyan Parag the bowler, going around the wicket and pushing the ball wide of the hitting arc

Despite two wickets in six legal balls between the 12th and 13th overs, ESPNcricinfo's forecaster still says MI will clear 200 in this innings. 209 is its prediction.

Rohit was 12 off 11 after three overs. He's faced 20 balls since then and hit seven of them to the boundary. That's a balls per boundary ratio of less than three.

He doesn't have a six yet, but he's manipulated the field so well. He moved leg side to target vacant off side boundaries when there was pace on (Archer) and when there was pace off (Theekshana). Clear method. Lovely timing. Smooth progress.

Royals targeted Rickelton's body, trying not to give him too much room. But he's still managed to do enough, playing short-arm pulls and finding gaps behind square.

Royals targeted Rickelton's body, taking pace off. But he held his shape and swung through. All of that is rather nicely represented in this graphic, where 67% of his 51 runs have come on the leg side.

Have RR made a mistake going straight at him? He's hit 34 runs in nine balls on the leg side.

The first three overs, there were only 16 runs, largely a consequence of one long boundary and RR taking pace off.

The fourth, fifth and sixth travel though. Rickelton was taking on the long boundary and clearing it handsomely. Rohit was manipulating Archer, seeing no one on the deep on the off side and giving himself room to access that.

MI take 42 runs off the last three powerplay overs

"Ooooh," Rohit said throwing his head back as his face broken into a smile, "YESS!" Instead of three reds, there was a green on DRS.

He had been given out lbw on field and took a long time deciding whether he should review. He almost missed the 15 second timer. Fazalhaq Farooqi had done everything right. He'd even taken a little insurance policy - inswing but also pace off. Rohit was deceived by both. He survies because the ball had pitched outside leg.

Overall, Archer has six wickets in the powerplay this season at an economy rate of 8.18. He got a fair bit of movement in the first over, away to the LHB and into the RHB.

Rajasthan Royals won the toss and chose to bowl against Mumbai Indians. Coming into this game from the high of their 14-year-old opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi scoring a match-winning century, they had to deal with a significant setback. Sandeep Sharma, one of their key players, has been sidelined with injury (broken finger), much like their regular captain Sanju Samson (abdominal strain) leaving the team under-strength at an important time. RR need to win all of their games to stay in playoff contention. Riyan Parag, who is standing in as captain, confirmed another change as well with Wanindu Hasaranga (niggle) out for Kumar Kartikeya. He preferred to chase because he expected some dew later in the night. RR handed a debut to Akash Madhwal as well, the fast bowler who used to play for MI.

Hardik Pandya felt the same way. He will be leading MI at a ground where they haven't won since 2012 but they are on a hot streak, they kind they often get on during the business end of the IPL. Should they turn five wins in a row to six on Thursday, they will go top of the table. Pandya also confirmed an unchanged XI.

Rajasthan Royals: 1 Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Nitish Rana, 4 Riyan Parag (capt), 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Jofra Archer, 8 Maheesh Theekshana, 9 Kumar Kartikeya, 10 Akash Madhwal, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi

Substitutes: Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Kunal Rathore, Yudhvir Charak, Kwena Maphaka

Mumbai Indians: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Ryan Rickelton (wk), 3 Will Jacks, 4 Suryakumar Yadav, 5 Tilak Varma, 6 Hardik Pandya (capt), 7 Naman Dhir, 8 Corbin Bosch, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Trent Boult, 11 Jasprit Bumrah

Substitutes: Robin Minz, Raj Bawa, Karn Sharma, Reece Topley, Satyanarayana Raju

He's living all our dreams.