Chennai Super Kings vaulted to the second spot in the IPL-16 standings and broke the Chepauk jinx against Mumbai Indians with a six-wicket win at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on May 6.
M.S. Dhoni’s side snapped a three-match winless run while marking its first triumph over MI at home since 2012.
Poor start
MI’s attempt to make a fight out of a 139-run total got off on the wrong foot when Cameron Green overstepped to concede the first run, succeeded by a lofted straight drive from Ruturaj Gaikwad for four.
Ruturaj’s two swivel-pull maximums and a straight drive for four made Super Kings’ intentions clear in the PowerPlay.
Finally!
MI captain Rohit Sharma’s desperation bore fruit when leggie Piyush Chawla removed Ruturaj with his first delivery in the fifth over.
Even as Devon Conway and Ajinkya Rahane effortlessly marched on in the middle-overs, Chawla’s googly trapped the latter. Middle-order bulwark Shivam Dube’s sixes lent speed before a Dhoni teaser fittingly ended proceedings with 14 balls to spare.
Earlier in the afternoon, after being asked to bat first on a fresh pitch, Rohit demoted himself from the opener’s slot for the first time in 62 innings, pushing Green up with Ishan Kishan.
The move backfired as the openers fell to false strokes against seamers Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande in the PowerPlay.
Tragedy was real when Dhoni stood up to the stumps, and Rohit’s attempted ramp off Chahar scooped up to Ravindra Jadeja at point for a three-ball duck — his second in succession.
Suryakumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera then found a string of boundaries during a 55-run stand.
However, Jadeja put an end to Suryakumar’s flamboyance with a bolt-upright delivery clinking the stumps.
Wadhera shines
Southpaw Wadhera prevented a collapse with his maiden half-century before tapping Jadeja for three fours.
While Wadhera (64, 51b, 8x4, 1x6) threatened to take off, Matheesha Pathirana’s (three for 15) rattling yorkers restricted MI to its joint-second-lowest total against CSK in a game that could impact heavily its Playoffs stakes.
Scoreboard
Mumbai Indians: Cameron Green b Deshpande 6 Ishan Kishan c Theekshana b Chahar 7 Rohit Sharma c Jadeja b Chahar 0 Nehal Wadhera b Pathirana 64 Suryakumar Yadav b Jadeja 26 Tristan Stubbs c Jadeja b Pathirana 20 Tim David c Gaikwad b Deshpande 2 Arshad Khan c Gaikwad b Pathirana 1 Jofra Archer not out 3 Piyush Chawla not out 2 Extras: (LB-5, W-3) 8
Total: (For 8 wickets in 20 overs) 139
Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-13, 3-14, 4-69, 5-123, 6-127, 7-134, 8-137.
Chennai Super Kings bowling: Deepak Chahar 3-0-18-2, Tushar Deshpande 4-0-26-2, Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-37-1, Moeen Ali 1-0-10-0, Maheesh Theekshana 4-0-28-0, Matheesha Pathirana 4-0-15-3.
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad c Ishan Kishan b Chawla 30 Devon Conway lbw b Akash Madhwal 44 Ajinkya Rahane lbw b Chawla 21 Ambati Rayudu c Raghav Goyal b Tristan Stubbs 12 Shivam Dube not out 26 MS Dhoni not out 2 Extras: 5 (lb-2, w-2, nb-1) 5
Total: 140/4 in 17.4 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-46, 2-81, 3-105, 4-130
Mumbai Indians bowling: Cameron Green 1-0-10-0, Jofra Archer 4-0-24-0, Arshad Khan 1.4-0-28-0, Piyush Chawla 4-0-25-2, Raghav Goyal 4-0-33-0, Tristan Stubbs 2-0-14-1, Akash Madhwal 1-0-4-1.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk/capt), Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana
Mumbai Indians: Rohit Sharma (capt), Ishan Kishan (wk), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Arshad Khan.
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