The match between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians is often very tough and is known as the El Clásico of the IPL. Batting first in Dubai, Chennai Super Kings were 24 for 4 at the end of the powerplay. Ambati Rayudu was retired hurt and Ruturaj Gaikwad struck an unbeaten 88 off 58 balls in the match. It was laced with nine fours and four sixes, to lift the team to 156 for 6. Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 33), and Gaikwad added 81 off 64 balls for the fifth wicket and that led to some late-overs hitting. Gaikwad and Bravo (23 off 8) did it with aplomb. The Mumbai team was missing Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. Super Kings’ seamers, led by Deepak Chahar, had Mumbai 58 for 4 in the tenth over.
Saurabh Tiwary and stand-in captain Kieron Pollard showed a fight but once Josh Hazlewood trapped Pollard lbw, with Mumbai still needing 70 from 41, the contest was heated up. In the end, Mumbai got only 136 for 8. Even though Tiwary (50* off 40) stayed till the end.
Trent Boult, being a good powerplay bowler, pinged Gaikwad’s pads with the second ball. Faf du Plessis chased a wide one and ended up slicing it to a short third man. Adam Milne had Moeen Ali. Ambati Rayudu tried to duck under it but it didn’t bounce and it jagged in to hit him. Boult bowls two short balls to Raina. He swung wildly at a length ball and the top edge flew to the third-man boundary but later he managed only the toe end of the bat.
At that stage, Super Kings were 7 for 3, effectively 7 for 4, but on the last ball of the powerplay, MS Dhoni nailed a pull against Milne. Gaikwad and Jadeja started the rebuilding with singles and twos and took the side to 44 for 4 at the halfway stage. In the 12th over, Gaikwad stepped out against Krunal Pandya to time him over long-off and Pandya over backward point for four.
Later Bumrah removed Jadeja and that brought Bravo to the crease. Milne launched inside-out over wide long-off for a six and Boult returned for the 19th over. Bravo (two sixes) and Gaikwad (one six, one four) ransacked 24 runs from the over and Mumbai stumbles in the chase.
De Kock started the chase positively, hitting Hazlewood for two fours. He later drove Deepak to the long-on boundary. Anmolpreet Singh, on his IPL debut, struck two fours and a six in Hazlewood’s second over. However, Deepak castled him with a knuckle ball and Shardul Thakur removed Suryakumar Yadav to make it 37 for 3.
With 95 required from the last ten overs, Pollard had a lot of pressure. He hit a six off Jadeja to threaten the same but Dhoni brought back his seamers and on the first ball of the 14th over, Hazlewood landed the decisive blow by trapping Pollard. Pollard was stuck and was hit on the back leg, so he opted for the review, but it was clear that all was over on his side.
Lastly, Chennai Super Kings 156 for 6 (Gaikwad 88*, Jadeja 26, Milne 2-21) were successful in winning over Mumbai Indians 136 for 8 (Tiwary 50*, Bravo 3-25, D Chahar 2-19) as they had 20 runs more in their hand.
