A magnificent unbeaten half century by Steven Smith (79) helped Rajasthan Royals defeat Mumbai Indians by seven wickets and five balls to spare in Match 9 of IPL8 at Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
Chasing a target of 165, Rahane (46) figured in a 64-run stand for the second wicket with Smith to finish on 165-3 in 19.1 overs.
The Rajasthan skipper paced his innings beautifully changing gears seamlessly being particularly severe on Malinga who went for 41 in his four overs.
Smith slammed eight boundaries and six in his 53-ball 79 to notch his first IPL half century.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians powered by half centuries from Corey Anderson (50) and Kieron Pollard (70) recovered to make 164-5 after being put into bat.
Anderson and Pollard staged a magnificent rearguard action coming together when MI were struggling at 45-3 after 10 overs.
They added 104 runs with Anderson smashing three sixes and five boundaries in his 38-ball 50 while Pollard blasted five sixes and seven boundaries in his 34-ball 70.
Rajasthan innings
Smith cracks consecutive boundaries off Malinga to notch his first IPL half century.
Malinga strikes knocking the leg stump of Hooda. RR 113-3, 14.5 overs.
Deepak Hooda b Malinga 13 (4b 0x4 2x6)
Hooda hammers two consecutive sixes off Gopal. RR 107-2, 14 overs.
Rahane falls slicing Gopal to long off. RR 92-2, 13.1 overs.
Ajnkya Rahane c Anderson b Gopal 46 (39b 4x4 0x6)
Vinay Kumar strikes as Samson perishes being caught off a leading edge. RR 28-1, 4.3 overs.
Sanju Samson c Sharma b Vinay Kumar 17 (16b 3x4 0x6)
Rahane gives Suyal the charge and bludgeons him to midwicket for his first boundary. RR 24-0, 4 overs.
Samson hits the first boundary of the innings cracking Suyal through point.
Mumbai innings
Mumbai blast 81 runs off the last five overs to finish on 162-5.
Morris castles Anderson in the final over. MI 161-5, 19.4 overs.
Corey Anderson b Morris 50 (38b 5x4 3x6)
Pollard blasts 20 off Southee before holing out to midwicket. MI 149-4, 19 overs.
Kieron Pollard c Nair b Southee 70 (34b 7x4 5x6)
Pollard has smashed a half century off just 28 balls. MI 129-3, 18 overs.
Tambe strikes flattening the middle stump of Chand who virtually yorks himself. MI 45-3, 9.5 overs.
Unmukt Chand b Tambe 12 (17b 1x4 0x6)
Anderson opens his account by punching Binny first ball through the covers for a boundary. MI 35-2, 7 overs.
Rohit fails again going for a second duck in a row edging Binny straight to his opposite number. MI 31-2, 6.3 overs.
Rohit Sharma c Smith b Binny 0 (5b 0x4 0x6)
Double blow for Rajasthan after the departure of Finch with a leg injury as Patel holes out to extra cover. MI 27-1, 4.4 overs.
Parthiv Patel c Morris b Kulkarni 16 (11b 2x4 0x6)
Patel whips the first ball from Morris to the fine leg fence. MI 17-0, 2 overs.
Finch hits the first boundary of the match cracking Southee through the gap on the off. MI 6-0, 1 over.
Finch and Parthiv Patel are the new opening pair for Mumbai with skipper Rohit Sharma dropping down the order.
Playing XI
RR: A Rahane, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Karun Nair, S Binny, D Hooda, J Faulkner, C Morris, Tim Southee, D Kulkarni, P Tambe.
MI: RG Sharma, A Finch, P Patel, U Chand, C Anderson, K Pollard, J Suchitch, V Kumar, S Gopal, L Malinga, P Suyal
Mumbai have won the toss and opted to bat first.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) will host Mumbai Indians (MI) in Match 9 of IPL8 at Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
RR should be brimming with confidence having two wins from two outings while MI have yet to get their first points on the board.
The two teams have so far clashed 14 times with MI emerging victorious on nine occasions, including their last four matches.
Squads
Rajasthan Royals: SR Watson, Ankit Sharma, B Brainder Sran, R Bhatia, STR Binny, BCJ Cutting, JP Faulkner, DJ Hooda, DS Kulkarni, VS Malik, CH Morris, KK Nair, AM Nayar, AM Rahane, P Sahu, D Salunkhe, SV Samson, SPD Smith, TG Southee, PV Tambe, R Tewatia, J Theron, SV Trivedi, DH Yagnik
Mumbai Indians: RG Sharma, CJ Anderson, AC Blizzard, JJ Bumrah, UBT Chand, M de Lange, AJ Finch, S Gopal, Harbhajan Singh, JR Hazlewood, SD Lad, MJ McClenaghan, SL Malinga, A Mithun, PP Ojha, HH Pandya, PA Patel, KA Pollard, N Rana, AT Rayudu, LMP Simmons, J Suchith, P Suyal, AP Tare†, R Vinay Kumar, AA Wakhare
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