At the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday, May 1, the Mumbai Indians (MI) defeated the Rajasthan Royals (RR) handily in Match 50 of the ongoing IPL 2025. MI won six straight games in the current season after dropping their first five games. MI was able to win and take the lead in the points table thanks to a fantastic bowling and hitting combination.
Talking Points
1. Ryan Rickelton and Rohit Sharma’s initial collaboration
MI scored 217 runs in Jaipur after batting first. Their top four batters, who all stepped up and batted well, made it feasible. The openers put on a display and scored 116 runs for the first wicket to start things off. Rickelton was outstanding with his 61(38), but Rohit Sharma produced his third fifty in his previous four innings. The two provided a solid foundation for the batters who came after them to build on.
2. The identical scores of Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav
Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya effectively maintained the momentum, thus Rickelton and Rohit’s batting efforts were not in vain. Hardik had a strong finish to the innings, but Suryakumar had a strong acceleration in the middle overs and scored more than 25 runs for the 11th time in a row in the IPL 2025. Both players stayed undefeated and scored 48 runs in 23 balls at a strike rate of 208.7.
3. The outstanding bowling effort of the Mumbai Indians
It was going to be difficult to reach a target of 218 runs against an assault that included Trent Boult, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Karn Sharma, Corbin Bosch, and Deepak Chahar. However, the RR batsmen lost wickets as they rushed to reach the high total. The collapse, which began with the wicket of Vaibhav Suryavanshi, saw MI dismiss RR for a mere 117 runs, winning by a margin of 100.
Who Said What?
Hardik Pandya, MI (Winning Captain)
The way we batted, and we were clinical with the ball – so absolutely [a perfect game]. We could have got another 15 runs. What we were trying to speak to each other was to play percentage shots. Surya and I said there’s value for shots… Ro and Ryan batted the same way. I think it was absolutely fantastic. It is never about people getting chances; it’s about what is required in the situation. People are going back to batsmanship. As a group, the way we batted was proper batsmanship. I don’t know who all to mention [among the bowlers]. Everyone is really clear. We’re going back to simple cricket, and it’s working for that. We want to take game by game, and be humble and disciplined.
Riyan Parag, RR (Losing Captain)
You’ve got to give credit to MI for the way they batted. They kept wickets. Yeah, 190-200 would have been ideal. We’ve been getting good starts. But it’s up to the middle order – myself, Dhruv – to step up. We’ve done a lot of things right and wrong. A lot of mistakes and small errors. We want to focus on them, and focus on the good [stuff] as well.
Ryan Rickelton, Player of the Match
Awesome. I have family here as well come up this week. Really good week. It was a bit of a slow start. We’re clicking nicely as a partnership together. With the weather looming around, we were unsure. That’s probably the thing about the IPL [adapting to the conditions]. I was guilty in the first quarter of the tournament in trying to do too much. We have such a thinktank, senior players, and management group.
India
