Mumbai's Sixth Win on the Trot Takes Them to the Top

Red-hot Mumbai's 100-run victory over hapless Rajasthan takes them closer to the playoffs spot

- Rasesh Mandani

MUMBAI: The ground was painted pink in Jaipur, so was the crowd. Rajasthan Royals were playing in a customised pink playing kit too. But that's as far as they could go with manufacturing home advantage.

Mumbai Indians' men in blue came out a blistering all-round display to blow away RR on Thursday. Their 100-run victory took them right at the top of the points table and closer to the playoffs. This was MI's sixth successive win; the slow start they had at the beginning is now a thing of the past.

Without the injured Sandeep Sharma and Wanindu Hasaranga, the RR bowlers had a stiff task before their hands. They tried to even the contest against a red-hot MI batting line up with tactical gameplay all the way through. They hung in there until the wheels came off during the death overs.

A big part of Rohit Sharma's return to form has been his commanding batting against the short ball. For his fifty in Jaipur, RR forced him to flip his batting template. They didn't bowl short to him. They bowled very little down his legs. Although Rohit wasn't at his belligerent best initially (he ended up with 53 off 36b), he could still make the adjustments. Every time it was full, he made room and kept lofting it through the off side.