IPL 2018, RR vs MI: 3 best decisions from the game
It was a battle of blues up in north-west India as Rajasthan Royals were all set to host defending champions Mumbai Indians.
Opting to bat first, MI were on track with their explosive batting but it were the dismissals of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav that saw a flurry of wickets to restrict them to just 167 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 168, Royals didn’t start well but it was some real effort from Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson to pull things back for the side. But it was always a huge ask with foreign players like Heinrich Klaasen and Jos Buttler getting out cheaply, before a twist in the tale saw Rajasthan get over the line courtesy an 11-ball 33 from Krishnappa Gowtham.
Let’s take a look at some of the decisions that had an impact on the game:
#1 Jofra Archer gets a nod for his debut game
Coming on the back of two consecutive losses, Rajasthan needed something out of the box to stage a comeback into the tournament. They did so by leaving out Ben Laughlin and replacing him with a debutant in Jofra Archer, who had earned himself quite a name in the Big Bash League.
The debutant was impressive with his variations of slower and seam-up deliveries. He managed to scalp three wickets in the death overs in a single over. He lived up to the expectations of the Indian fans who have heard him make huge strides in the shortest version of the game in the leagues around the world.