Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s breathtaking century gave Rajasthan Royals a win their last match against Gujarat Titans at home and a much-needed lifeline.
They would hope to continue in the same vein when they host Mumbai Indians in Jaipur on Thursday evening. The Hardik Pandya-led side has been on a roll and would look to win their sixth match in a row.
But more than team performance, the focus will be on how Suryavanshi faces up to the likes of Jasprit Bumrah and Trent Boult.
Boult described the prospect of facing the 14-year-old as “exciting”, but said it is not something that would “worry” him on a flat Sawai Mansingh Stadium pitch.
“(I have) bowled to some brilliant batsmen around the world, the Chris Gayles, the AB de Villiers, all the quality that come in these tournaments. I think I’ll be careful not to say I’m worried about a 14-year-old,” Boult told the media on the eve of the match.
“But it’s going to be an exciting challenge to come up against a guy who’s obviously fearless and running in hot form at the moment, so that’s what it’s about.
“The whole world saw that performance the other night. (It was a) quality (knock) from such a young kid. It’s the beauty of this tournament, of all the players coming out and taking any opportunity with both hands and I thought he did that very nicely.”
Mumbai’s change in fortunes has been credited to the return of Bumrah and Rohit Sharma’s rising form. After tallying just 56 in his first six innings, Rohit has registered scores of 26, 76 not out, 70, and 12, each innings displaying his trademark Powerplay aggression.
The Royals are still sweating over Sanju Samson’s fitness on a “daily basis” after their regular skipper was sidelined due to a side strain.
Samson has missed three matches so far owing to the niggle and is set to miss Thursday’s match as well.
“Sanju is recovering well but we just have to take it day-by-day. It’s a side-strain and sometimes these side strains can be a bit tricky and we don’t want to harm him in the long run,” head coach Rahul Dravid said.
