IPL 2014 - Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals: 5 Reasons why the defending champions were better on the night

Tell me one cricket lover who wasn’t shell-shocked by what transpired at the Wankhede last night. Forget the astounding performances, the equations and even the repercussions involved. In reality, there have only been a handful of games in cricketing history, like the one between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, that made our heads spin in bemusement.Last night’s game was largely about attrition from Rajasthan Royals, who simply needed to score big and then restrict Mumbai from getting those runs in 14.2 or 14.3 overs: doing so would have sealed their spot in the play-offs.Having been asked to bat first by Rohit Sharma, the Royals looked a bit unsettled and vague in their batting approach. Shane Watson fell for an 18-ball 8, and his innings was very unlike of him. But, thanks to Karun Nair and Sanju Samson’s mature yet outstanding half-centuries, the Royals’ ended their innings at a pretty impressive 189-5.I felt that a score of 150-160 would be a relatively easy target for Mumbai, but 190 in 87 balls was asking a bit too much. I still held the belief that one big innings from the top 3 and a couple of impressive cameos will do it for the defending IPL champions, though. What really lead to the Mumbai-based franchise pulling off such an incredible chase? Here are the 5 reasons why the defending IPL champions were the better team on the night:

#1 Shane Watson had a woeful game with the bat and as a skipper

In a match of this magnitude, you would ideally want your senior pros to lead from the front and set the tone for the rest of the team to follow. In Watson’s case, though, it just didn’t look like happening for him.

Opening the innings for the Royals, he didn’t manage to get the team off to a good start. He looked apprehensive, and, somewhere down the line, nerves got the better of him.

With the bat, he played out a maiden against Jasprit Bumrah when he should have just charged down the wicket and stamped his authority. With the ball, he went for 15 in his first over and 18 in the second. 

Captaincy wise, he didn’t look assured with his bowling changes and looked short of options despite Kevon Cooper’s brilliant spell, which accounted for Michael Hussey and Kieron Pollard in his very first over.

I am pretty sure that had Watson been a little more assertive, things could have panned out differently.