Live Blog - Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians

9m ago

It's a box-office first over from Gerald Coetzee to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who picks off three boundaries but doesn't know much about the second! A first-ball step into the length earns Jaiswal the most languid of sixes down the ground, but that's the last he'll be seeing of slot-balls tonight. Coetzee stares, shrugs and serves up a 150kph sizzler that bursts past the splice and almost takes the keeper's head off. Four balls later, and it's Jaiswal's own bonce in the firing line as he pulls defensively and top-edges over the keeper, before signing off the over with a more measured punch through cover. Lively times!

21m ago

Width, walloped. Hardik Pandya's first over contains a brace of length-ball outswingers, and Jos Buttler, fresh from the innings of his IPL career against KKR, is in the mood to punish them. A brace of boundaries through the covers, and the chase is up and running.

Inevitably, Jasprit Bumrah offers a more tricky challenge, and just a brace of singles ensue, including one for Buttler to a misfield in the covers.

44m ago

What a final over from Rajasthan! Tim David finally gets the strike back with three balls remaining, but his first swing is a miscue, and his second holes out to deep midwicket. Sandeep closes out the over with minimal damage, to return the stunning figures of 5 for 18, the best by an Indian bowler for the Royals, and on his return from injury too. All smiles from the home team as they limit Mumbai to 179 for 9, and just nine runs in the final two overs.

55m ago

A very timely strike for Avesh Khan, who aims full and straight with Hardik Pandya shuffling to the off-side, and nails him plumb in front with the fast full-toss. Mumbai's captain is gone for a run-a-ball 10, bringing Tim David out to unleash his own long levers with ten balls of the innings remaining.

But it's a superb over from Avesh as Mumbai's charge is checked ... just six runs from it as Avesh nails his length, and one ball later, Varma holes out to deep mid-on from the first ball of Sandeep's final over. Gerald Coetzee then swings through his first ball to pick out Shimron Hetmyer as well, which leaves David stranded at the wrong end.

1h ago

A smoking sweep over midwicket for Tilak Varma, and up comes his fifty from 38 balls - and at 21 years and 166 balls, he's the third-youngest to 1000 IPL runs. One ball later, however, he looks to have fallen lbw on the reverse-sweep to Chahal - only for the decision to be overturned on review. The batters are ecstatic at the reprieve as they embrace in the middle of the pitch, and Wadhera takes it upon himself to lead the celebrations with two more sixes in a very significant over. The 150 is up, and Mumbai are back in contention.

1h ago

It's all very one-paced out there at the moment, or maybe we've just been spoiled by the extraordinary scoring-rates elsewhere in the competition. But R Ashwin is through his four overs for 31 runs - wicketless once more having claimed just one in the tournament to date - as Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera rebuild the innings with a steady stand of 68 runs in 41 balls. That said, Wadhera has just unleashed a one-handed six over long-on off Avesh to pick up the tempo a touch.

1h ago

200 Wickets for Yuzvendra Chahal in the IPL

Another first-over strike for Rajasthan, and another champion bowler has a very significant moment! Yuzvendra Chahal's third ball grips on a good length as Mohammad Nabi closes the face on the front foot, and it's a simple lob back into his waiting hands to bring up his 200th IPL wicket! He's been on the IPL circuit since 2013, and he's ended Nabi's brief rally at 23. Time for a time-out with Mumbai in all sorts of bother.

Only two other men have previously reached 200 wickets in a T20 competition, which speaks volumes for Chahal's impact and longevity: 200-plus wickets in a T20 Competition: Danny Briggs (219 and Samit Patel (208), both in England's T20 Blast.

1h ago

It's not a lot to write home about, but an 18-run flurry in Avesh Khan's opening over at least allows Mumbai to finish the powerplay on the front foot. Mohammad Nabi is the source of that relative fightback, with a pulled six over square leg and two fours through the covers. It's time for some spin as R Ashwin joins the attack at 45 for 3 after six.

2h ago

Poor cricket from Suryakumar Yadav, who flicks loosely across the scrambled-seam delivery from Sandeep Sharma, and is already wincing in self-admonishment before the ball has nestled in Rovman Powell's grasp at midwicket. He'd shown a glimpse of his best touch in Trent Boult's previous over, with a brace of boundaries including a kinky dab through deep third. But he's gone before he's really begun, and so too has Mumbai's powerplay...

2h ago

It's a diabolical start for Mumbai, as both openers depart in the space of nine balls! Sandeep Sharma again aims full, looking to utilise the swing on offer. Ishan Kishan has a swing through some tantalising width, and Samson is convinced there's a nick as the ball nestles in his gloves... he's right too!

2h ago

26 Trent Boult striking in first over of an IPL match

Well, what do you know ... it's that man again, and this time it's taken him a whole five balls to claim his first wicket of the match! Trent Boult fires in the full-length delivery, shaping in at the stumps, and Rohit Sharma has a massive hack through the line! The ball flies high in the air, Samson runs round with the gloves to take a tumbling chance, and Rajasthan Royals have their first incision!

And guess what happened when Rajasthan last played Mumbai? Yep, Boult bagged Rohit fifth-ball, caught by Samson!

2h ago

It's Hardik Pandya's 100th game for Mumbai Indians, and he's won the toss and chosen to bat first. His reasoning is that there's not been much dew to factor in in Jaipur's previous games.

Mumbai have named three changes: Nuwan, Wadhera, and Chawla come in for Madhwal, Romario and Shreyas. For Rajastan, Sandeep Sharma comes in for Kuldeep Sen.

As for the conditions, the square boundaries are a sizeable 67 metres and the straight boundary is 76m. Brian Lara, on the host feed, reckons a score in the range of 180-200 is competitive on a pitch that lacks some moisture compared to other higher-scoring surfaces.

3h ago

3h ago

Welcome to Match 38 of the 2024 IPL, which - if my maths isn't deceiving me - brings us to the in-bound leg of this marathon 74-match tournament. And as the teams turn for home, it's Rajasthan Royals setting the pace, with six wins out of seven, but Mumbai Indians are already coming up the rails, with three wins in their last four - including an unlikely thriller against Punjab Kings on Thursday.

Unlikely, because who saw any sort of fightback after Gerald Coetzee and the peerless Jasprit Bumrah had wrecked Punjab's top order to the tune of 14 for 4 in 2.1 overs? Defending 193 ought to have been a doddle from there, but Ashustosh Sharma had other ideas in a spirited fightback. Such has been the nature of Mumbai's season so far. Bumrah and Coetzee have 25 wickets between them, while no-one else has more than 5, and most of those have been dispatched at more than 11 runs an over too.

So, it may be reductive to suggest that this match will be decided in Rajasthan's Powerplay. But with Jos Buttler surging back to form with two hundreds in his last three innings, including arguably the chase of his life against KKR last Tuesday, the resumption of that tasty Anglo-Indian rivalry is certainly something I'd be tuning in to witness.

The toss is coming up in about half an hour. It's the end of the Jaipur leg of the tournament. Can the hosts and front-runners sign off in style? Let's find out!