Jaiswal strikes form as Rajasthan beats Mumbai to stay on top in IPL

JAIPUR, India (AP) — Yashasvi Jaiswal ended a string of poor scores by posting his second century in the Indian Premier League as Rajasthan Royals thrashed Mumbai Indians by nine wickets on Monday.

Jaiswal scored an unbeaten 104 off 60 balls, including nine fours and seven sixes, to lead Rajasthan to 183-1 after Mumbai struggled to 179-9.

Medium-pacer Sandeep Sharma collected 5-18 in four overs for Rajasthan while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took one but became the first bowler to reach 200 IPL wickets.

Jaiswal’s previous highest score this season was 39.

He and opening partner Jos Buttler combined for 61 in the power play when rain interrupted the chase for 45 minutes without losing any overs. Jaiswal didn’t lose focus but Buttler was bowled in the eighth over for 50 off 31 balls.

Jaiswal accelerated, scoring the next 54 runs off 29 balls, which included five more sixes. In doing so, Jaiswal added 109 runs off 65 balls for the second wicket with skipper Sanju Samson, who finished 38 not out.

Jaiswal became the youngest batter at 22 to score multiple hundreds in IPL history. His first was also against Mumbai last year.

Earlier, put into bat, Mumbai suffered another top-order collapse against the Rajasthan pacers.

Trent Boult got rid of Rohit Sharma for 6, and Sandeep Sharma had Ishan Kishan caught behind for a three-ball duck. Sandeep Sharma then sent back Suryakumar Yadav for 10 and Mumbai was 20-3 after 19 balls.

Chahal’s milestone wicket was Mohammad Nabi. Chahal claimed 200 wickets in his 153rd IPL game.

Tilak Varma countered with a half-century off 38 balls, and finished with a team-high 65. Nehal Wadhera added 49 off 24, including four sixes, and their partnership made the five-time champions competitive.

But Rajasthan won with eight balls to spare and stayed atop the table after its seventh win in eight games. Mumbai was second to last.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket