Captain Steve Smith changes Rajasthan Royals' fortunes with win over MI

Rajasthan Royals' skipper Steven Smith celebrates his half century against Mumbai Indians during their IPL clash in Jaipur on Saturday. Pic/PTI

A new skipper brought new tidings to the fortunes of Rajasthan Royals as they not only beat Mumbai Indians, placed second in the IPL points table, but also kept their faint hopes of qualifying for the playoffs alive. Before the toss, it was announced that Steven Smith had replaced Ajinkya Rahane as the skipper. Smith brought new vigour into the squad to guide the laggards to a comprehensive five-wicket win, though the standings in the table did not change for the two teams.

Smith led by example, playing a match-winning, unbeaten knock of 59, while Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma fell tamely rather early after his team were asked to bat first. Though Mumbai did manage to get 161, thanks to Quinton de Kock's fine 65, it was surely not enough to put the rivals under pressure.

In retrospect, it did seem Mumbai were 20-odd runs short of making it tough for the hosts. "We lost Rohit early and it took me and De Kock some time to get going. The Royals bowlers really bowled well and did not allow our hard-hitters Hardik [Pandya] and Kieron [Pollard] to boost the total like they usually do.

"Yes, you could say that we had a below-par total to defend," Suryakumar Yadav said about the outcome. "However, nothing much is lost for us and we remain confident as a unit. We need to regroup and play our remaining games with same vigour as we have been playing from the beginning," he added.

Smith made all the difference both as a leader and batsman. The Aussie was given a solid support by Assam under-19 batsman Riyan Parag. Playing only his second IPL game, the youngster played with supreme confidence and got 43 from 29 balls till he was needlessly run out at the fag end to give the opposition some hope. But Smith ensured against any hiccup, to complete a home and away win double over Mumbai this season.

There is no doubt that Smith utilised the resources well and for the first time this season Stuart Binny was given the new ball. Shreyas Gopal and Jofra Archer were their usual economical self, to keep the big-hitters in check.

Leg-spinner Gopal dealt Mumbai a big blow when he had Rohit playing tamely back to him. That really jolted the visitors. After Rohit departed early, it was left to the other opener De Kock and Yadav to build the innings.

Continuing his good run, De Kock ensured that things did not go awry for his team. His knock of 65 was the cornerstone of the innings. It was then left for Hardik and Ben Cutting to prop up the total in the final overs. But it did not prove big enough to put the pressure on the opponents.

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