Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians, one of the most anticipated clashes of IPL, set the second phase of the tournament to a great start. Young Ruturaj Gaikwad was the star for the Super Kings: his 88 helped them recover from a hopeless situation in the Powerplay. Then their seamers ensured early wickets and kept the pressure on the Mumbai Indian batters who eventually were short by 20 runs despite a fighting fifty from Saurabh Tiwary.
Mumbai Indians picked Tiwary and Anmolpreet Singh for Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. They also opted for Adam Milne for his good show during the Hundred, while Kieron Pollard led in Rohit's absence. For the Super Kings, Sam Curran was absent and they went with Josh Hazlewood for his pace instead of Imran Tahir’s leg-spin.
Chennai Had a terrible start. They lost Faf du Plessis in the first over from Trent Boult. By the second over, they had lost Moeen Ali, while Ambati Rayudu retired after a rising delivery from Adam Milne hit him on the elbow. An uncomfortable-looking Suresh Raina was dismissed in the next over for 4. M.S. Dhoni lasted 5 balls, and was the fourth CSK wicket to put them in lots of trouble at 24/4.
At the other end, Gaikwad did his best to ensure these wickets do not impact his own game. He and Ravindra Jadeja built the first decent partnership for CSK, though they were only 44/4 at the halfway mark.
An 18-run twelfth over from Krunal Pandya changed the momentum somewhat. Pollard probably missed a trick, using Jasprit Bumrah for only one over in the first 13. By the time Bumrah returned in the 14th, the partnership had flourished. The duo played him carefully and targeted Pollard for scoring. Gaikwad soon reached his sixth IPL fifty.
Eventually, it was Bumrah who provided the breakthrough in his 100th IPL match. Jadeja scored 26 in 33 balls in the 81-run stand. Dwayne Bravo played a quick-fire cameo of 23, with three sixes, as Gaikwad kept going. CSK added 39 in the last two overs, while Gaikwad scored 25 off the last 10 balls he faced, finishing with a massive six off Bumrah to reach 88 and take CSK to 156/6. Milne, Bumrah and Boult shared the six wickets, while as Rahul Chahar went wicketless for 22 runs.
Quinton de Kock then had a good start, but Deepak Chahar continued to perform in the Powerplay. He trapped de Kock LBW and bowled the debutant Anmolpreet. Shardul Thakur came in the fifth over and immediately dismissed Suryakumar Yadav, and Mumbai were 41/3.
Bravo picked up Ishan Kishan in his first over and Mumbai Indians were 62/4 in the 10th over, already behind the asking rate. Pollard, Mumbai’s last hope, hit a four and a six in his first 10 balls, but Dhoni brought Hazlewood back in the 14th over, and the latter immediately trapped Pollard in front. Krunal Pandya was run out in the very next over and Mumbai Indians needed 60 runs from the last five overs.
Tiwary got Milne for company, and the duo kept the scoreboard ticking. But the asking rate kept going up, and despite a drop from Dhoni off Tiwary, Mumbai needed 24 runs in the last over. Bravo ensured that there was no late drama, conceding just 3.
Chennai are now at the top of the table with 12 points and a better net run rate than the Delhi Capitals.
Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 156/6 in 20 overs (Gaikwad 88*; Milne 2-21) beat Mumbai Indians 136/8 in 20 overs (Tiwary 50*; Bravo 3-25). Player of the Match: Ruturaj Gaikwad.