Left Arm Around

Yashasvi Jaiswal crunched a magnificent century in a nine-wicket win for Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai Indians at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.

His unbeaten knock of 104- the 2nd century of his IPL career- featured 9 fours and 7 sixes as the Royals reached their target of 180 with eight balls left to secure a seventh win in eight fixtures.

The 22 year-old first combined with Jos Buttler in an opening stand of 74, before sealing the game alongside captain Sanju Samson in a brilliant unbroken partnership of 109 from 65 deliveries.

It was brilliant return to form for Jaiswal with the left-hander hitting only 121 runs in seven innings prior to this one.

However, Mumbai Indians will regret a terrible fielding effort which saw Samson grassed on 19 by Tim David and Jaiswal reprieved on 50 when Nehal Wadhera pushed a regulation catch over the ropes for six.

Jasprit Bumrah failed to add to his impressive tally of 13 wickets so far with season- ending with figures of 0/37.

His third over went for 16 as a first ball overstepping led to Jaiswal punishing the free-hit for six.

After earlier winning the toss and electing to bat, Mumbai Indians found themselves quickly in trouble at 20-3 with Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav all back in the hutch.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal then removed Mohammad Nabi (23) with a simple caught & bowled to become the first man in IPL history to reach 200 wickets, before Wadhera and Tilak Varma (55) counter-attacked in a stunning partnership of 99 from 52 to put the five-time champions in a very strong position.

Wadhera, 23, fell just short of a well-deserved 3rd IPL fifty when a canny Trent Boult slower ball nestled into the hands of Sandeep at point.

Hardik Pandya’s side were well set at 151-4 heading into the 17th over, however will be hugely disappointed by a stuttering finish that resulted in only 28 runs from the final four overs.

The returning Sandeep Sharma was the pick of the bowlers with 5/18 from four overs- his first ‘fifer’ of a stellar 119 match IPL career.

Only three runs were scored from a stunning final over as Sandeep removed Varma, David and South Africa’s Gerald Coetzee.

A defeat for MI leaves them in seventh position with three wins and five losses from eight games so far.

They return to action against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.

RR travel to face Lucknow Super Giants later that day (15:00 BST).