Rajasthan's hopes for the playoffs have ended following a defeat near Mumbai.

 

Rajasthan had no choice but to win all the remaining matches to qualify for the playoffs. However, the first-time champions failed that test against Mumbai. Rajasthan Royals lost to Mumbai Indians by 100 runs in the face of half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Ryan Rickelton and brilliant bowling from Karn Sharma. As a result, the team was knocked out of the IPL playoffs.

Batting first, Mumbai scored 217 runs at the Rajasthan ground in Jaipur on Thursday. Rohit scored 53 runs in 36 balls. Along with him, Ryan Rickelton's 61-run innings off 38 balls in the opening innings gave the team a flying start.

After these two were dismissed, Suryakumar Yadav and captain Hardik Pandya ran riot in the batting. Both remained unbeaten on 48 runs. Sury hit a six off the last ball to set Rajasthan a huge target of 218 runs.

In reply, Rajasthan's innings suffered a setback at the beginning. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who had scored a century in the previous match, was dismissed for a duck in two balls. Then Yashasvi Jaiswal (13), Nitish Rana (9), Riyan Parag (16), Hetmyer (0), Shivam Dubey (15) and Dhruv Jurel (11) went out one by one.

The score was 76 for 7 after 9 overs. Mumbai then pocketed the match. England's Jofra Archer tried to fight back a little, scoring 30 runs. But that was not enough. Rajasthan were all out for just 117 runs in 16.1 overs.

With this win, Mumbai have won six consecutive matches. As a result, they have surpassed Royal Challengers Bangalore on net run rate and have moved to the top of the points table. Although Virat Kohli's team has played one match less, if they can defeat Lucknow Super Giants this afternoon, the team will move to the top, Mumbai will move to second.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan's hopes of playing in the playoffs are over here. They have 6 points from 11 matches. Even if they win the next three matches, they have no chance of finishing the league stage in the top four.

However, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team Chennai Super Kings has already been eliminated from the IPL before Rajasthan. They have got a total of 4 points from 10 matches.

Rajasthan Royals Mumbai Indians IPL