IPL 2022, RR vs MI: If Dew Hadn't Played A Part, 158 Would've Been Enough, Says Ravichandran Ashwin

The target of 159 would have been enough for Rajasthan Royals if dew hadn't played a major role, premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said after his team's five-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Suryakumar Yadav and young Tilak Varma gave the best 35th birthday present to their skipper Rohit Sharma as MI finally opened their account on Saturday.

Chasing a victory target of 159, MI reached home in 19.2 overs, courtesy of Surya (51 off 39 balls) and Tilak (35 off 30 balls), the two adding 81 runs for the third wicket.

"I think if dew hadn't played a part, that score would've been enough, but there was heavy dew, so felt it was 10-15 runs short," said Ashwin at the post-match press conference.

"158 was a competitive score. It was always going to be about how well we started. In fact, we had a very good powerplay and got one wicket more than what Mumbai had at the front.

"So I thought it was a reasonably good score to fight and we pretty much did well with whatever scores we had this season. I thought the wicket was a little sticky to begin with." It was MI's first win after eight successive defeats and even though the result bears little consequence, it is certainly going to keep the five-time champions in a good mind space.

While RR's winning run came to an end.

"It was unfortunate today. I don't know how this works, whether it's the humidity factor, or the spray whether it works or not or what it was, but it (dew) was wet all over the place today.

"And it makes a massive difference; good deliveries tend to get overpitched and stuff like that for the spinner. Also usage of the spinner cannot be at the back of the innings.

"So all these facets can't be kicking in when dew comes in so it's a combination. We put up