3 instances of a century and a five-wicket haul in the same match for an IPL team ft. Yashasvi Jaiswal & Sandeep Sharma
Rajasthan Royals (RR) continued their dream run in the ongoing 17th season of the IPL, beating the five-time champion Mumbai Indians (MI) quite convincingly by nine wickets.
Riding on a sensational fifer from Sandeep Sharma and a brilliant unbeaten century from Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rajasthan chased down the target of 180 with eight deliveries to spare.
On the virtue of the win, Rajasthan consolidated on their No. 1 position in the points table, having registered their seventh victory of the competition. After being put into bat by the RR skipper Sanju Samson, Mumbai got off to the worst possible start losing their openers Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan very cheaply.
Suryakumar Yadav and Mohammad Nabi couldn't make a significant contribution either as MI were reduced to 52/4. It was when the two youngsters, Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera took the onus on themselves to bring MI back in the game. They shared a stroke filled 99-run stand and it looked MI would touch the 200-run mark.
However, the Rajasthan bowling attack had other ideas. After troubling the MI batters with new ball, Sandeep came back strongly in his second spell to restrict Mumbai to just 179 which didn't prove to be enough in the end. Jaiswal batted sensibly and took his time before unleashing his wide array of strokes.
This was also just the third instance when two players from the same team scored a century and took a five wicket haul. Here is a look at all those three instances:
#3 Jos Buttler & Yuzvendra Chahal - KKR vs RR, 2022
The first instance when this feat was achieved was back in 2022. Batting first, Rajasthan posted a mammoth 217 on the board courtesy of a superb century from Buttler against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
Some useful contributions from Sanju Samson (38) and Shimron Hetmyer (26*) also helped their cause. Buttler batted till the 17th over, scoring 103 off just 61 deliveries which included nine fours and five sixes.
Then, KKR came out all guns blazing and the partnership between Aaron Finch set them the platform to chase the target down. However, it was the wizardry of Yuzvendra Chahal, which swung the pendulum towards the Royals.
The leggie accounted for Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Shivam Mavi and Pat Cummins and KKR kept sliding down the barrel and eventually ended up losing by just seven runs.
#2 Shubman Gill & Mohit Sharma - GT vs MI, 2023
One of the most integral members of the Gujarat Titans line-up, Shubman Gill scored a century against the Mumbai Indians in Qualifier 2 to help the Titans qualify for the second straight final in 2023. Mohit Sharma, who was settling into a game-changer for Gujarat also took a fifer which stalled the MI progress in the run chase.
Gill was at his imperative best and thrashed the MI bowlers to all corners of the park. None of the bowlers could find an answer in front of a brutal onslaught from Gill. He plundered seven fours and 10 sixes during his knock of 129 which came in just 60 deliveries.
Gujarat posted a daunting 233 on the board with some useful contributions from Sai Sudharsan (43) and Hardik Pandya (28*). Mumbai was jolted early and Mohammed Shami removed Rohit Sharma and Nehal Wadhera in quick succession. Mohit Sharma was introduced into the attack in the 15th over and it took him just 14 deliveries to get a fifer.
Mohit started with the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav and added four more within a blink of an eye. Vishnu Vinod, Chris Jordan, Piyush Chawla and Kumar Karthikeya were the other casualties as MI were knocked over for just 171.
#1 Yashasvi Jaiswal & Sandeep Sharma - RR vs MI, 2024
It was an incredible spell of fast bowling from Sandeep Sharma on his return to the playing XI. Before the start of the season, he was given a specific role of bowling more in the death. However, Sanju Samson wanted to utilize his skills with the new ball and he didn't disappoint.
Sharma took the prized wickets of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav in the powerplay itself to reduce them to 20/3. The veteran came strongly in his second spell as well, while mixing his pace and executed the split-finger slower one to a nicety.
The right-arm pacer dismissed the dangerous Tilak Varma while also adding Tim David and Gerald Coetzee to his kitty as MI posted 179 on the board.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was struggling to score a significant amount of runs in the tournament. Having realized it was the ultra-attacking approach which was affecting his form, Jaiswal changed his role with Buttler and carried his bat through the innings to take his side over the finish line. He batted superbly to score 104 off 60 as Rajasthan won by nine wickets.