Ahmedabad: &nbsp;Skipper Steve Smith struck his&nbsp;maiden IPL half-century as the young Australian led Rajasthan&nbsp;Royals to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians&nbsp;in their IPL cricket match, here today.
It was Royals' third consecutive win while Mumbai&nbsp;suffered their third defeat in a row.
Chasing a challenging 165 to win, Royals romped home in&nbsp;19.1 overs with Smith scoring an unbeaten 79 from 53 balls.&nbsp;
He was well supported by Ajinkya Rahane (46) as they raised a&nbsp;64-run stand for the second wicket.
Smith shifted gears at will as he first relied on finding&nbsp;the gaps, running hard between the wicket, and when needed, he&nbsp;found the boundaries effortlessly. He found the fence eight&nbsp;times and also smashed a six.
The decision to bat seemed to have backfired as Mumbai&nbsp;managed only 45 runs in the first 10 overs but a fiery&nbsp;104-run stand between Kieron Pollard (70) and Corey Anderson&nbsp;(50) changed the team's fortunes as they ended with a&nbsp;respectable 164 for five.
Pollard's 70 came off just 34 balls as he punished the&nbsp;Royals bowlers with seven fours and five sixes while Anderson&nbsp;supported the Caribbean with a 38-ball 50.&nbsp;
Royals were steady in their chase despite losing Sanju&nbsp;Samson (17) early. There were no big shots to see but under&nbsp;the charismatic leader Smith, Royals kept a decent run-rate.
As has been Smith's style, he rotated strike quickly with&nbsp;ones and twos with Ajinkya Rahane finding the odd boundary in&nbsp;between from the other end.
The strategy continued for some time but now Royals now&nbsp;needed 80 runs from the last eight over. The biggest plus was&nbsp;that they had nine wickets in hand.
Rahane was dismissed by Shreyas Gopal as he tried to&nbsp;accelerate. In came young sensation Deepak Hooda and he&nbsp;started the fireworks straightaway by hitting two monstrous&nbsp;sixes off Gopal.
Malinga, though, sent the exciting youngster back with&nbsp;his toe-crushing yorker that rattled his stumps.
The pressure built up with required run-rate now little&nbsp;over 10 but Smith not only kept one end tight but also started&nbsp;to score more briskly. He reached his maiden IPL fifty with&nbsp;two consecutive boundaries off Malinga. In all he creamed off&nbsp;15 runs from that 17th over.
Needing 12 from 12 balls, It was a cakewalk for Royals.
Earlier, the Royals bowlers, who had straight-jacketed&nbsp;the Mumbai batsmen for the major part of the innings, were&nbsp;clueless against the Caribbean stroke-maker and Anderson, who&nbsp;got a life on 23 after being caught off a no ball.
Steven Smith used four different bowlers in the power-play overs after being asked to bowl and the ploy worked&nbsp;as Mumbai could only manage 31 runs in six overs.&nbsp;Not only this, Mumbai opener Aaron Finch pulled a&nbsp;hamstring while attempting a single in the fourth over, bowled&nbsp;by Stuart Binny. Helped by teammates, Finch (10) limped back&nbsp;to the dugout, unable to keep his left leg on the ground.&nbsp;
Unmukt Chand joined Parthiv Patel at the crease but the&nbsp;left-hander offered a simple catch to Chris Morris off Dhawal&nbsp;Kulkarni to be dismissed for 16.&nbsp;
Kiwi paceman Tim Southee was very effective with his&nbsp;outswingers while Kulkarni also kept a very tight line. Binny too bowled a probing line and was rewarded soon as he scalped&nbsp;rival captain Rohit Sharma (0), who edged one to slips.
Leg-spinner Pravin Tambe was introduced and he struck&nbsp;immediately, castling Chand (12).
Such was the discipline and domination of the Royals'&nbsp;bowlers that Mumbai scored only 45 runs in 10 overs, managing&nbsp;only six shots to the fence.
Pollard broke the shackles by dispatching a Chris Morris&nbsp;delivery to boundary ropes and then Anderson lofted the same&nbsp;bowler two balls later for another four. The West Indian smashed&nbsp;James Faulkner for a six over mid-wicket.&nbsp;Anderson was caught off a no ball from Kulkarni and he made the Royals pay for that mistake immediately, hitting Southee for a massive six and followed it up with a four.
The two batsmen creamed off 17 runs from the 17th over by&nbsp;Faulkner as the run riot began.

Skipper Steve Smith struck his&nbsp;maiden IPL half-century as the young Australian led Rajasthan&nbsp;Royals to a comfortable seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians&nbsp;in their IPL cricket match

IPL 8: Steve Smith leads Rajasthan to win, Mumbai register hat-trick of losses

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / IPL 8: Steve Smith leads Rajasthan to win, Mumbai register hat-trick of losses

IPL 8: Steve Smith leads Rajasthan to win, Mumbai register hat-trick of losses

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