New Delhi (India) May 3: In one of their most dominant performances of the season CSK outplayed Mumbai Indians in every aspect of the game to chase 159 in the must-win clash at Chepauk by 8 wickets. Disappointment filled the stadium as two of the game's biggest players Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni were not present in either of the line-ups.
MI Lose Momentum After Strong Start
MI captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bat first against CSK. MI got off to a bright start as they reached 57 for 1 in the powerplay with the help of boundaries from Ryan Rickelton and Naman Dhir. However, CSK pulled it back in the form of Noor Ahmad who picked up Rickelton's wicket at a crucial time.
Ramakrishna Ghosh then grabbed his first wicket in the IPL and dismissed Suryakumar Yadav. Things were not in favour of MI as Tilak Varma then departed due to a mistimed shot. Hardik Pandya struggled to find the boundary as he only scored 18 in 23 balls as MI looked to be lacking momentum despite Dhir's half-century. The visitors were still able to score 159 with Anshul Kamboj chipping in with 3 wickets in the end for MI.
Gaikwad and Kartik Seal Easy Chase
CSK's reply began with a brisk start before their first big star Sanju Samson departed to Jasprit Bumrah. Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad held his nerve in the chase and hit 6 off Boult as CSK kept their required rate below 7 an over.
Kartik Sharma steadied the innings with a half-century. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kartik Sharma then got hold of the run-chase with a composed partnership that gave them a win with the pair both getting past the half-century mark as the CSK skipper ensured the chase did not slip away from them.
Playing Xl's: CSK AND MI
Chennai Super Kings: Sanju Samson (wk), Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Urvil Patel, Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Prashant Veer, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Mukesh Choudhary
Mumbai Indians: Will Jacks, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya (c), Robin Minz, Trent Boult, Krish Bhagat, Jasprit Bumrah, AM Ghazanfar