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.

#2 Rajasthan Royals looked rattled and mentally out of shape

Mumbai Indians had to do all the running in the game, but it’s safe to say that the Royals, who had a relatively easier task in front of them, made it easy for their opponents with their shambolic performance on the night. Yes, Nair and Samson played some astonishing cricket shots, and this young duo’s partnership was invigorating to watch. However, the youngsters’ enthusiasm and calmness under pressure did not rub off on their teammates.

At the end of the game, when you cast your mind back to the slip-ups in the field and some shocking bowling from James Faulkner in the 15th over of the chase, Rajathan Royals were probably guilty of being mentally weak.

#3 Mumbai Indians batsmen were very adept at hitting boundaries

190 was a pretty daunting task for Mumbai Indians, but, when you take a look at the number of fours and sixes they struck, maybe it wasn’t all that big to chase. There were, in total, 19 fours and 12 sixes in the Mumbai innings, and, when you put them into perspective, 148 runs scored off 31 legitimate deliveries is a surreal stat in truth. That meant Mumbai required 42 off the remaining 46 balls to qualify for the play-offs, which they managed it with ease.

So, it’s not so much about the overall equation, but it’s largely about the number of boundaries you can manage, which they did quite comfortably.

#4 Ambati Rayudu and Aditya Tare made the most telling contributions in the end

‘So near yet so far’ is a common cliche in sporting events, and, had it not been for the breathtaking cameo that Ambati Rayudu played at the end (30 off 10) and Aditya Tare’s 6 off the very first delivery he faced, Corey Anderson’s instrumental knock (95* off 44) could have proved inconsequential. Corey, without a shadow of a doubt, played the kind of innings that catapulted his team into the play-offs, but it’s difficult to say that whether the Kiwi all-rounder could have got Mumbai over the line single-handedly without the telling contributions of Rayudu and Tare.

Rayudu’s innings was priceless, and Tare’s first ball 6 added lustre to the tenacity shown by Anderson and Rayudu.

#5 4 good overs from Kevon Cooper were just not good enough for Rajasthan Royals

At the start of the Mumbai Indians’ innings, there were a mere couple of possibilities: Mumbai Indians could have capitulated in the event of going after 190 in 87 balls or, with a bit of luck, managed to overhaul the equation in front of them. When Kevon Cooper struck twice in his first over, accounting for Michael Hussey and Kieron Pollard, it was difficult to resist myself from thinking that a massive collapse was a serious possibility.

But, as it panned out, Cooper’s figures of 4-0-38-2 were just not good enough for the Royals to stop Mumbai Indians from running away with the game. If one more bowler had managed to do what Cooper did, Rajasthan might have controlled the game better.