26th May
Place : Jaipur

In this tight fixture between the Mumbai and Rajasthan teams, it would seem pretty amusing if Delhi is considered to be the winner. This however, is very true as with the defeat of the Mumbai Indians against the Rajasthan Royals, the Delhi team has its place assured in the semi-finals of the IPL. The fate of Mumbai hangs by a thin thread now as they can go in only when they win against the Deccan Chargers and the Chennai Super Kings lose to the Deccan team.

This match was a final-ball thriller in which the young boys who were no big name as batsmen got victory for the team on the last ball. The chance that the boys took on the last ball which could have been a run out fared very well for them and they got victory by 5 wickets.

The Rajasthan Royals as usual, chose to field first on winning the toss. The Mumbai Indians came to bat first with Sanath and Sachin as openers. The former made 38 runs off 37 balls and was the highest scorer in the team. Sachin finished up with 30 runs off 34 balls. Nayar who came in at number three made 25 runs off 18 balls and it was only Takawale at number 8 who scored 24 runs. The middle order of the team was thrashed by the attack of Sohail Tanvir who obtained 4 wickets in just 2 overs. The team could make not a very big total of 145 runs.

The Rajasthan Royal could not have any big batting innings either. Akmal and Asnodkar, the openers for the team scored no more than 18 and 17 runs respectively. The complete middle order too stayed on this level of runs only. The team needed 32 runs in the last three overs with the two young batsmen Jadeja and Patel on strike. No one expected them to stay there calmly as both were new to this pressure. However, the pressure took its toll on the other team. Dilhara gave away a wide ball which should not have come at that time. Also, on the last ball when it could have been a run out as the boys had taken a chance, Sanath fumbled and the match went into the hands of the Rajasthan Royals. Sohail Tanvir earned the man of the match today.