IPL 2021: Quinton de Kock helps Mumbai Indians gun down 172 vs Rajasthan Royals, return to winning ways

Playing their first match of the season at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, Mumbai Indians came up with an improved all-round showing to revive their campaign as Quinton de Kock returned to peak form to help MI return to winning ways in IPL 2021 with a 7-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in Delhi.

Chasing 172 for victory, Mumbai rode on a superlative 70 off 50 balls from Quinton de Kock to register their third win of the season in six matches of IPL 2021 in Delhi. de Kock started attacking the Rajasthan bowlers from the word go in their pursuit of 172 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, hitting a four against Chetan Sakariya.

de Kock and Rohit Sharma’s opening partnership laid the foundation for the chase as they added 49 for the first wicket in just 6 overs. Rohit fell for 14 off 17 balls but de Kock carried on to anchor the chase.

The South African opener then combined with Suryakumar Yadav to add 44 runs for the second wicket and forged a 63-run stand for the fourth wicket. Mustafizur Rahman cleaned up Krunal for 39 to break the 63-run stand but Kieron Pollard hit a boundary and a six off Morris to bring MI close to an emphatic win.

MI vs RR IPL 2021 from Delhi: Highlights

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals rode on small but important cameos from Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson to post a competitive 171 for four after being put to bat first at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Thursday.

Jos Buttler (41) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (32) laid the foundation with a solid 66-run stand in 7.4 overs. Buttler looked in his elements before being stumped by de Kock off Rahul Chahar for 42.

Samson started with a boundary, a cut-shot, and then hit two boundaries off Krunal Pandya in the ninth over, in which RR got 12 runs. But Chahar struck again, this time removing Jaiswal, as he lobbed off a return catch.

Shivam Dube (35) forged a 57-run stand for the third wicket with skipper Samson, who plundered five boundaries, with the Mumbaikar playing aggressive shots. Samson also kept playing shots at will, as he hit two successive boundaries, in the 16th over off Boult, which fetched his team 14 runs.

However, Trent Boult castled Samson in the 18th over and then Jasprit Bumrah got rid of Dube in the penultimate over as the MI bowlers kept things tight in the last four overs. RR managed to score only 45 runs in the last five overs.