Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians, 36th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Series: Indian Premier League 2019 Venue: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur Date & Time: Apr 20, 04:00 PM LOCAL

Can new skipper Steve Smith change RR's fortunes? © BCCI

Rajasthan Royals do the double over MI

Well that ended without any drama. A very good win for Rajasthan considering all the upheavals ahead of the game. Smith took over captaincy and has led from the front with an unbeaten 59 in what could have been a tricky chase. Don't forget his role earlier in the day as well, when he rung in the changes very cleverly, giving his bowlers short bursts.

Mumbai Indians will not hurt much from the defeat although a win would have taken them to the top of the table. But they keep producing these kind of indifferent performances against the "lesser teams" and that's got to be worrying in a league system.

Anyway, we won't have much time to dwell on this for the toss has taken place in Delhi with both DC and KXIP making a whole host of changes. Swap tabs and catch the action there! Ciao!

A needless run-out

End of a 70-run stand between Smith and Parag but the 17-year-old is slow to turn around and respond to a call for two from Smith and is caught well short of his crease by an accurate throw from Ben Cutting.

Then Ashton Turner is pinged plumb in front off the stumps by Bumrah. It's a second golden duck for him in the IPL! RR should still cruise.

Riyan Parag steps up

This could have gotten tricky but Parag is actually playing a good little hand here, easing the pressure on Smith. A brave scoop and an 'educated' edge past short thirdman has reduced the equation to nearly a run-a-ball. Top knock

@rajasthanroyals

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Three changes for RR:

IN: Steve Smith (c), Ben Stokes, Riyan Parag

OUT: Rahul Tripathi, Ish Sodhi, Jos Buttler

One change for MI:

IN:Mayank Markande

OUT:Jayant Yadav

What do you make of all these RR changes? Tweet in your views and opinions to @kaushik_cb

Ok, so this just in: No Jos Buttler for today's clash!

Jos Buttler has flown back to England for the birth of his child. He was anyway supposed to fly out in a couple of days for the start of their World Cup preparations. So it would seem that's the end of his IPL campaign.

Prelude - A new captain

Hello, hello, hello! How about we start the match with a bit of breaking news.

Ajinkya Rahane has been sacked as Rajasthan Royals captain. Steve Smith to take over for the time being!

Head over here for the full news.

Now for the match itself. Rajasthan Royals' season has been on a perpetual free fall, so much so that now even RCB have caught up with them on the points. They have won just two games, but if it's any solace, one of those wins came against their opponents today - Mumbai Indians.

They have a few other stats going their way against the Rohit Sharma's three-time champion team - MI haven't won at the SMS since 2012 and are now on a three-match losing streak against RR.

This game comes at a critical juncture for Rohit & Co. They are on a late season surge and have now climbed up to second on the points table. A slip up now will force them back into the drawing board. They wouldn't want that.