Steve Smith, captaining Rajasthan Royals (RR) for the first time this IPL season, scored an unbeaten 48-ball 59 to guide his team to a 5-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians (MI) at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur in the first of two IPL matches being played on Saturday. Sanju Samson (35 off 19 balls) gave the chasing team a good start in Jos Buttler’s absence. Smith, however, got the most able support from 17-year-old Riyan Parag (43 off 29 balls), as the duo put on a partnership to almost see RR home.

Rahul Chahar (3/29) made some early breakthroughs to give early setbacks to the home team, but it was not enough for MI.

MI had posted a total of 161/5 in their 20 overs against RR.

Winning the toss, RR captain Steve Smith opted to field first. Quinton de Kock (65 off 47 balls) gave the visitors’ innings impetus early on. He combined with Suryakumar Yadav for a 97-run partnership.

Shreyas Gopal (2/21) and Stuart Binny (1/19) got breakthroughs for the home team, while Jofra Archer (1/22) was brilliant in the death overs. RR are facing a race against time to climb out of the bottom two in the IPL Points Table.

DC beat KXIP

Shreyas Iyer, Shikhar Dhawan notched up brilliant half-centuries as Delhi Capitals (DC) defeated Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) by 5 wickets at Feroz Shah Kotla yesterday.

In the chase, the hosts lost Prithvi Shaw early due a mix-up with his fellow opener Dhawan. Unperturbed by the dismissal, Dhawan and Iyer forged a key partnership and laid the foundation of their win.

In the middle-order Colin Ingram contributed 19 runs off nine balls to assure DC cross over the line with ease.

Earlier, Chris Gayle (69) scored his 28th half-century as KXIP scored 163/7. Put in to bat, the visitors got off to a poor start as they lost K.L. Rahul (12) in the second over. Gayle continued his onslaught on the opposition bowlers from the other end. His 37-ball knock was laced with six boundaries and five hits over the fence. However, following the dismissal, only Mandeep Singh (30) played made a key contribution to the side.