It was an unexpected comeback for Mumbai Indians. The Hardik Pandya-led side is in desperate need of some home consolation after losing two of their first two matches in IPL 2024. But the MI batsmen failed to impress against a red-hot Rajasthan Royals bowling as three of their first four batsmen were dismissed for 0 runs. They scored just 125/9, their lowest score in the first innings of IPL 2024 so far. The batsmen who fell for ducks were Rohit Sharma, Naman Dhir and Dewald Brevis.

Former MI captain Rohit Sharma fell in love with a golden duck (when a batsman is out on the first ball he or she faces). This was his 17th duck in the IPL, joining Dinesh Karthik. Followed by Piyush Chawla (16 ducks).

Rajasthan Royals’ Yuzvendra Chahal (3/11) and Trent Boult (3/ 22) Suppressed the struggling Mumbai Indians and restricted them to 125/9. Boult struck early with a wicket explosion in the power play and Chahal made life miserable for the other batsmen in the following overs, returning the brilliant 3/11 in four overs Figures, which include Hardik Pandya (34), Tilak Varma (32) and Gerald Coetzee (4).

If Chahal smothered the MI batsmen in the middle while keeping Pandya and Varma at bay, Boult started a riot in the home team’s top order, sending Rohit Sharma to , Naman Dill and Dewald Blevis evicted the ducks.

Boult set the tone in his first game as he shocked the Mumbai Indians twice, including a high-priced scalp from Rohit, who wanted a golden duck.

Rohit’s desire to feel the ball with his bat may have prompted Rohit to pick a ball which Boult deflected and the outside edge was caught by Rajasthan wicketkeeper-captain Sanju Samson. Samson made a brilliant grab at the ball, grabbing it with his right hand and slotting it into the goal. diving.

Dhir (0) made the mistake of crossing the wicket and failing to cover Boult’s inswing, with the ball hitting his pads. The DRS appeal ended up being burned as ball tracking showed it would have clipped the leg stump.

Things got worse for Mumbai when rusher Brevis (0) meekly bowled a short third ball off another delivery off Boult’s right-hander Nandre Berg in the third over (2/32) Takes a sharp reverse cup catch.

Ishan Kishan (16) played some nice knocks but Berg found an outside edge off his left-hand bat and Samson made another nice catch behind the wicket , putting Mumbai Indians on top in the powerplay.

Pandya received boos from all over here and he walked to a similar reception, but his brief comeback turned the negative noise into cheers.

The Mumbai skipper showed concentration when he bowled Berg for three fours in the sixth over, but Chahal ended Pandya’s resistance.

Chahal threw a ball outside off stump and Pandya tried to hit it, the batsman had to swing the bat hard but the ball didn’t fly far enough.

Stand-in fielder Rovman Powell judged the height and pace well and made a beautiful diving catch a few yards to his right, denying Pandya the chance to become the team’s hero.

With PTI input

Varma was superb but his stay was cut short by Ravichandran Ashwin’s brilliant catch at short third man.