IPL 2018, RR vs MI: 3 best decisions from the game

It was a battle of blues up in north-west India as Rajasthan Royals were all set to host defending champions Mumbai Indians.

Opting to bat first, MI were on track with their explosive batting but it were the dismissals of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav that saw a flurry of wickets to restrict them to just 167 in their 20 overs.

Chasing 168, Royals didn’t start well but it was some real effort from Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson to pull things back for the side. But it was always a huge ask with foreign players like Heinrich Klaasen and Jos Buttler getting out cheaply, before a twist in the tale saw Rajasthan get over the line courtesy an 11-ball 33 from Krishnappa Gowtham.

Let’s take a look at some of the decisions that had an impact on the game:

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#1 Jofra Archer gets a nod for his debut game

Coming on the back of two consecutive losses, Rajasthan needed something out of the box to stage a comeback into the tournament. They did so by leaving out Ben Laughlin and replacing him with a debutant in Jofra Archer, who had earned himself quite a name in the Big Bash League.

The debutant was impressive with his variations of slower and seam-up deliveries. He managed to scalp three wickets in the death overs in a single over. He lived up to the expectations of the Indian fans who have heard him make huge strides in the shortest version of the game in the leagues around the world.

#2 Bringing Dhawal Kulkarni back into the attack

This was the ultimate masterstroke of the game from Rajasthan Royals that helped them to make a comeback into the game. Kulkarni was impressive upfront to send Evin Lewis back into the pavilion and then gave the much-needed breakthrough in the back end of the innings.

He finished with the figures of 2 for 32 in his 4 overs. Riding on his performance, RR could wreak a havoc in the opposition middle-order that finally made them crumble at a score of 167, that looked like crossing 200 at one stage. He could well be the man to look forward to in the upcoming Royals’ games.

#3 Gowtham and his self-belief to finish off things in style

At one stage, Royals were cruising towards victory before Jasprit Bumrah and Mustafizur Rahman showed their class in death overs bowling. The two comparatively experienced campaigners were undone by yet another young talent in Krishnappa Gowtham who proved to be too good for both of them.

Gowtham smacked 33 of just 11 deliveries to see his side over the line in a nail-biting thriller. It was his last over heroics and the self-belief showed in his ability to hit a boundary despite playing a dot ball in the previous delivery.

This was evident when he refused a single in the final over to finish things off in style through a mighty hit over the mid-wicket region, helping his side earn two crucial points.

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