Nathan Coulter-Nile led an inspired pace attack to help holders Mumbai Indians hammer Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets yesterday and keep their playoff hopes alive in the Indian Premier League.
Coulter-Nile (4-14), James Neesham (3-12) and Jasprit Bumrah (2-14) claimed nine wickets between them to limit Royals, who are all but out of the IPL title race, to 90-9 in Sharjah.
Opener Ishan Kishan hit an unbeaten 50 as Mumbai romped home in 8.2 overs to jump from seventh to fifth spot behind Kolkata Knight Riders as they fight for the final playoff place. Rohit got out in the fourth over as Chetan Sakariya gave RR their first breakthrough. Suryakumar Yadav announced his arrival, hitting a first-ball four before he and Ishan Kishan, who earlier completed 1,000 IPL runs for MI, hit three fours in the fifth over. While MI moved past fifty in the final over of the powerplay, they lost Suryakumar.
Ishan cut loose and did so in some style. The left-hander hammered a four and two sixes in the 8th over and then added a four and six more to his account to notch up his fifty and a sensational win for MI in 8.2 overs.
“We had to come here and do what we had to do. The two points were very crucial for us,” said Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma.
“Once we had them bowled out for 90, we had a chance to finish it early and improve our run rate.”
Delhi Capitals, MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings and the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore have already booked their place in the last four.
With their backs to the wall, Mumbai came all guns blazing after electing to field first as Coulter-Nile, Neesham and Bumrah removed Royals’ top three batters.
“There are world class bowlers in our side and hope they can pick a few more and I have my job easier,” man of the match Coulter-Nile said of his team’s pace pack.
Mumbai made two changes to their teams. While RR brought in Shreyas Gopal and debutant Kuldip Yadav in place of Mayank Markande and Akash Singh, MI picked Ishan Kishan and Jimmy Neesham in place of Quinton de Kock and Krunal Pandya.
While Yashasvi Jaiswal and Evin Lewis made a brisk start, Nathan Coulter-Nile struck in the fourth over and dismissed Jaiswal to give MI their first breakthrough. Jasprit Bumrah then had the better of Lewis in the final over of the powerplay before Neesham got two wickets in quick succession, getting Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube out.
Coulter-Nile then dismissed Glenn Phillips as MI reduced RR to 50/5. Rahul Tewatia and David Miller added 21 runs together. But MI ran through the RR lower middle-order and restricted them to 90/9.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Indians 94/2 (Ishan Kishan 50*, Rohit Sharma 24; Chetan Sakariya 1/36) beat Rajasthan Royals 90/9 (Evin Lewis 25; Nathan Coulter-Nile 4/14, Jimmy Neesham 3/12) by 8 wickets.