Boult, Parag blow Mumbai Indians away

Trent Boult with the ball and Riyan Parag with the bat combined to help the Rajasthan Royals crush the Mumbai Indians by six wickets in their Tata IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday.

First of all the Royals restricted MI to the lowest score in this year’s competition to date, 125 for nine, thanks mainly to an explosive opening by Boult who took three wickets in his first two overs, as well as wristspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who also claimed three wickets.

Chasing this most modest of totals, the Royals suffered some early blows but were rescued by a mature innings from Parag who struck his second consecutive half-century.

The right-hander did what he had to do, keeping out the peerless Jasprit Bumrah and punishing the other bowlers after getting himself in. In all, he struck five fours and three sixes in his unbeaten 39-ball 54 as Royals reached their target with 27 balls to spare.

The Royals have now won their first three matches and lie at the top of the table with six points and a superior net run rate. By contrast, Mumbai have lost their first three matches. They will not panic, they often start competitions slowly, but they have thinking to do.

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On a fresh, well-grassed pitch, the fast bowlers were able to extract plenty of life out of the new ball. Mumbai’s early successes began with South Africa’s 17-year-old prodigy Kwena Maphaka who had Yashasvi Jaiswal caught at cover in his first over, claiming his first IPL wicket in the process.

The other three wickets were all down to paceman Akash Madhwal, who dismissed Sanju Samson (played on), Jos Buttler (hooking to fine leg) and Ravi Ashwin (caught off a leading edge) to return the excellent figures of 3-20. But he and the other