Ajinkya Rahane-led Rajasthan Royals kept their playoff hope alive after thrashing Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians by seven wickets on Sunday at the Wankhede stadium, Mumbai.
After securing a hat-trick of wins, Rajasthan will aim to continue their momentum in the next game when they will face Kolkata Knight Riders in their next game and inch closer to a playoff berth, said Rajasthan pacer Dhawal Kulkarni.
On Tuesday, high-spirited Rajasthan unit will face two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. “All the games are crucial for us. Maybe, in the next game we’ve got a good chance to beat Kolkata Knight Riders. With the momentum that we’ve got, I’m sure we’ll be able to do that,” said Kulkarni after the Royals’ victory at the Wankhede Stadium last night.
Rajasthan Royals climbed up to the fifth spot with 12 points in as many games following their third victory on the trot, riding on opener Jos Buttler’s blistering unbeaten knock of 94 in 53 balls — his second successive unconquered 90-plus score in the competition.
On the move to promote Buttler to the top of the order, Kulkarni said: “I think it was a collective decision of the captain, (head of cricket) Zubin (Bharucha), (mentor) Shane (Warne) and (batting coach) Amol (Muzumdar). So, he’s doing well for us and I hope he continues to be in that form for us.”
MI’s Australian all-rounder Ben Cutting felt the hosts were 20 runs short of a winning total. “To be honest, I’m probably the wrong person to ask – I faced four balls and I didn’t bowl. From what I saw, it is always a little difficult with a little bit of dew coming in batting second. We were probably 20 runs short with the bat. And that was the difference,” he said when asked about the track on which his side were restricted to 168 for 6.
He said it was a difficult task to stop an in-form batsman like Buttler. “It’s tough. I’m not sure. We were pretty close to our plans tonight. Missed a few balls with execution here and there, but that happens in Twenty20 cricket. He’s in red-hot form and he’s scored, what, 500 runs? His confidence is high and he’s striking the ball well. He played very well,” said Cutting.
He also recalled the last-over losses in the opening few games that have come back to hurt Mumbai. “Had we won two of those four games, we wouldn’t be having the same conversation. We’d be sitting comfortably on 14-16 points,” he rued.
-With PTI inputs.