In what turned out to be a dramatic win, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) chased beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by five wickets and recorded their first win of the T20 season. Also, the victory marked MS Dhoni’s 100th win as a captain for the Men in Yellow; the first captain to have achieved the feat for any team in IPL.
Winning the toss and opting to bowl first turned out to be a masterstroke by MS Dhoni as the dew factor furthered their chances of winning in the latter stages of the contest.
Mumbai Indians had a ripper of the start to the rivalry as both Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock started to take on the deliveries. But, the good period lasted short for the defending champions as leg-spinner Piyush Chawla affected the first blow, sending the MI skipper back to the pavilion, followed by English all-rounder Sam Curran getting the edge on Quinton de Kock who scored a blistering 33.
Partnershops started to arise – first between Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary for 44 runs, then Saurabh Tiwary and Hardik Pandya for 29 runs, but they too were eventually broken off by Ravindra Jadeja who made a stunning comeback in his final over.
The likes of Kieron Pollard (18) and Krunal Pandya (3) couldn’t do much to the cause as they were dismissed at the hands of Lungi Ngidi, bringing the end to MI’s middle and lower-middle-order. Rahul Chahar (2*) and Jasprit Bumrah (5*) batted in the last as the four-time champions posted 162 runs on board.
In response, CSK chased down the target with five wickets in hand and four balls to spare, with a well-set Faf du Plessis (58*) smashing consecutive fours off Boult’s deliveries in the last over.
Ambati Rayudu (71) played a gem of a knock, considering the came out to bat quite early on following Watson and Murali Vijay’s dismissals, and was one of the primary reason behind CSK winning the contest.
His 115-run partnership alongside Faf du Plessis proved to be the turning point in the game for the three-time champions in what could have been a very tricky run-chase.
Sam Curran (18) and Ravindra Jadeja (10) rendered explosive hitting from the very moment that pushed CSK to the total. To the fans’ excitement, skipper MS Dhoni did come out to bat in the end, but, remained unbeaten on zero.
Here’s how the cricket fraternity reacted following Chennai Super Kings’ 5-wicket victory in the tournament opener.
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