Guwahati, April 8: The 13th match of IPL 2026 took place on Tuesday at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, where Rajasthan Royals (RR) faced off against Mumbai Indians (MI). The match, affected by rain, saw RR’s batsmen dominate, leading to MI’s defeat by 27 runs. Following the match, MI captain Hardik Pandya praised RR’s young opener, Vaibhav Suryavanshi.
Pandya remarked, “It’s fascinating to watch how Vaibhav plays. His fearless batting and the variety of shots he possesses are remarkable. I wish him all the best for the future. He just needs to learn from his mistakes.”
Additionally, Pandya took responsibility for the loss, attributing it to the team’s bowling performance.
He stated, “I think we didn’t bowl as well as we should have. They batted well. Our bowlers need to take responsibility. As a bowling group, we didn’t perform well. I won’t blame the batsmen for this match. It was definitely a failure in our bowling. In T20 cricket, it’s always about executing the right deliveries. If you look at the 27 runs, it means we are talking about five good balls and five fewer boundaries. So, if we had bowled correctly, we would have been in the match.”
The rain-affected game was played over 11 overs, with MI winning the toss and opting to bowl first.
RR’s openers, Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal, attacked the MI bowlers right from the start. They took on Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, and Jasprit Bumrah, scoring 80 runs for the first wicket in just five overs. Suryavanshi scored 39 runs off 14 balls, hitting five sixes and one four, including two sixes in a single over from Bumrah.
Yashasvi Jaiswal remained unbeaten with 77 runs off 32 balls, including four sixes and ten fours. Thanks to Jaiswal’s innings, RR posted 150 runs for three wickets in 11 overs. Captain Riyan Parag also contributed with 20 runs off 10 balls.
Chasing a target of 151, MI never looked in contention for victory. They lost wickets quickly, with Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, and Hardik Pandya falling for just 41 runs. Naman Dhir scored 25 runs off 13 balls, while Sherfane Rutherford added another 25 runs off just 8 balls, leading MI to 123 runs for 9 wickets in 11 overs.
For RR, Jofra Archer and Tushar Deshpande took one wicket each, while Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, and Ravi Bishnoi claimed two wickets each.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was named Player of the Match.
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