Making a comeback as a captain after one year, Steve Smith guided Rajasthan Royals to their third win in nine games in the Indian Premier League on Saturday, 20 April.
Hosting Mumbai Indians at their fortress, the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Royals invited Mumbai to bat first and restricted them to 161/5 in 20 overs.
Though Rajasthan had lost three wickets in the first eight overs, their run rate went as per the demand, thanks to a quickfire 35 off 19 from Sanju Samson. It was then that skipper Smith took over.
The Australian along with Riyan Parag added 70 for the fourth wicket, before the latter was run out by Cutting at 43.
Smith then went on to score his sixth IPL half century to take Royals past the winning line. His innings of 59 off 48 included five fours and one six.
Twitterati applauded the RR skipper for his winning knock.
Earlier in the first innings, Mumbai managed to reach 161/6 in 20 overs, owing to the contributions of Quinton de Kock (65) and Suryakumar Yadav (34). Defending a not so convincing total, MI’s bowling though failed to put pressure on Royals.
Despite of this win Rajasthan are still seventh in the IPL table with six points in nine games.
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