Match Details
Arya- Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and put Chennai Super Kings in. The talking point before the start of the match was Kieron Pollard finally facing the axe in favour of a young South African Tristan Stubbs. The opening over of the match by Daniel Sams included a lot of drama. Devon Conway was adjudged LBW in the 2nd delivery of the match and due to a power cut, DRS wasn’t available and Conway would feel hard done by.
It was clearly sliding down the leg stump and this is not the first time, there has been an umpiring howler in this tournament nor it will be the last occasion. That unfortunate dismissal started something special for the Mumbai Indians bowlers. Daniel Sams bagged the wicket of Moeen Ali in that first over itself to reduce CSK to 2/2. In came Jasprit Bumrah in the 3rd over and he trapped Robin Uthappa with an exceptional away seamer. DRS wasn’t available yet, but it looked very close this time, and Uthappa should have been a goner even if he had DRS available.
Wickets kept tumbling as Sams got the man in form Ruturaj Gaikwad in his 3rd over. It was a strangle down the leg side as he managed to get a feather to a delivery which otherwise would have been a wide had he left that alone. At 17/4, in came MS Dhoni to join Ambati Rayudu in the middle and they needed to settle the proceedings with a partnership. However, it wasn’t to be as Riley Meredith joined in the act bagging the wicket of Rayudu in his first over.
He followed it up with the wicket of Shivam Dube with a very well-directed short delivery and the left-hander couldn’t quite fend that away gloving it straight to Ishan Kishan behind the stumps. MS Dhoni was the lone warrior out there in the middle who smashed a few boundaries to give the CSK fans in the crowd something to cheer about.
Dwayne Bravo also smoked a biggie over midwicket but was pocketed by Kumar Kartikeya in the very next delivery. It was a full toss and Bravo tried to lift that over the short cover fielder. Tilak Cerma who was at place timed the jump to perfection and held onto it with both hands. Simranjeet Singh was out in that over itself as he was rapped right in front by the left-arm spinner.
Dhoni played some exceptional shots from the other end despite the cluster of wickets. Rohit Sharma then introduced Ramandeep Singh into the attack and guess what, he bagged the wicket of Maheesh Theekshana in his very first over. Dhoni then whacked Riley Meredith for a maximum over deep backward square leg. Mukesh Choudhary tried to give him some company but Dhoni had to keep strike and in a bid to take the run on the final delivery of the 16th over, Choudhary was found short of the crease as Ishan Kishan inflicted a terrific run-out.
Rohit Sharma started off in a blazing fashion after missing a few but couldn’t quite carry on his early onslaught. He smashed four delightful boundaries on his way to 18 before Simranjeet Singh bowled a brilliant outswinger, inducing the outside edge of Rohit Sharma’s blade. Daniel Sams who was sent up the order to use the powerplay struggled to get going in the initial stages and was eventually trapped right in front by Mukesh Choudhary.
Chennai Super Kings managed to remain in the game as Mukesh Choudhary bagged one more in his 3rd over dismissing debutant Tristan Stubbs with a sensational in dipper which struck the youngster on the back pad and there was no question if the ball was hitting the stumps. With the score reading 33/4, CSK was in with a chance. However with the scoreboard pressure not being enough, two youngsters Tilak Verma and Hrithik Shokeen decided to grind out the difficult phase and once there was a partnership, the target was way too less for CSK to defend.
Both the batters played some quality shots and it was their partnership which blunted the run-chase. It was sensible batting from the left-hand right-hand duo as MI kept chipping away towards the target. Shokeen lost his concentration towards the fag end of the match and gave his wicket away cheaply. However, Tim David was there to see his side through. Two sixes of Moeen Ali in the 15th over was enough to take MI over the finishing line.