Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith was a satisfied man after thrashing Mumbai Indians by eight wickets and keeping their hopes alive of making it to the playoffs of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Ben Stokes (107 not out) and Sanju Samson (54 not out) made a mockery of 196 runs target set by Mumbai Indians. Their unbeaten third-wicket stand of 151 runs in just 82 balls helped Rajasthan Royals reach the target in just 18.2 overs.
“Very pleased, that’s what we’re crying for, use the experience, take the game deep and that’s what both Stokes and Samson did,” said RR captain Steve Smith in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“The wicket was playing good, the ball was coming onto the bat, there was intent – the shots were flowing, they just played good cricketing shots – I thought the partnership was fantastic,” he said.
RR looked like they could limit MI to a total close to 150 by the way they pulled things back in the middle overs, but Hardik Pandya’s 21-ball 60 propelled MI to 195/5. He was dropped in the 16th over while he was on six off seven balls.
“We played some good cricket in the first half, the dropped chance proved to be costly, perhaps we ended up giving away another 40-45 runs, but it didn’t matter in the end. I hope our batters take the confidence from this match and play knocks which will help the team win,” said Smith.
The win at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium helped Steve Smith’s men stay in contention of a knockout berth. They are placed at sixth with 10 points from 12 games. Mumbai, meanwhile, remained first with 14 points from 11 matches.