Chennai Super Kings bounced back after two defeats in a row – against Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings – to beat Mumbai Indians in Match 49 of TATA IPL 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
The in-form and skillful Matheesha Pathirana led the way with an excellent spell of 3/15 as a disciplined, accurate and impactful bowling effort from the home team’s bowling unit restricted Mumbai Indians to 139/8. Consistent Devon Conway then played a composed knock of 44(42), after Ruturaj Gaikwad had provided a brisk start with 30 off 16 balls, to help CSK chase down the target with 14 balls to spare. Shivam Dube too chipped in with a cameo of 26* off 18 balls while MS Dhoni hit the winning run to send the crowd into a frenzy as CSK bagged two crucial points at home.
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Chasing 140, CSK got off to a breezy start as Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway hit a slew of boundaries early. Gaikwad lofted one over mid on and then flicked one through mid-wicket for a couple of fours in the first over from Cameron Green. He then went after Arshad, smashing a couple of sixes off pull and hitting a couple of well-placed fours to make it 20 runs off the over. Conway got into the act in the next over, cracking a couple of fours off Jofra Archer as CSK reached 46/0 from four overs. Rohit Sharma then brought the in-form Piyush Chawla into the attack and he struck straightaway, removing Gaikwad (30 off 16) off the first ball. He bowled a superb over, giving away just four and Archer then gave away just 5 as CSK reached 55/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Rahane and Conway took 18 runs off the next two overs but Piyush Chawla was at it again as he trapped Ajinkya Rahane LBW off a googly after Rahane had lofted him for a six straight down the ground earlier in the over. Chawla finished his spell with excellent figures of 4-0-25-2.
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The boundaries dried up and Rayudu finally ended the drought with a massive six off Stubbs for the first boundary in 25 balls. He however departed the next ball as he cut one straight into the hands of backward point. Shivam Dube arrived and went on the attack straightaway, cracking a couple of sixes off debutant Raghav Goyal. He added 25(22) with Conway to take CSK closer before the CSK opener was trapped LBW for 44(42) via a successful review after the umpire had turned down a big LBW appeal off Akash madhwal. With 8 needed off 17, Dube pulled one over fine leg for a six and Dhoni then hit the winning run much to the delight of the Chepauk crowd as CSK cruised to a six-wicket win.
Earlier, Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl. They named an unchanged starting XI. They named Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed and Akash Singh as their substitutes.
Mumbai Indians made two changes to their starting eleven as Suryakumar Yadav and Tristan Stubbs replaced Kumar Kartikeya and Tilak Varma (Injured). They named Kumar Kartikeya, Ramandeep Singh, Dewald Brevis, Raghav Goyal (debutant) and Vishnu Vinod as their substitutes.
CSK got off to a brilliant start as they ripped through the Mumbai Indians top order early. Ishan Kishan and Cameron Green, who opened the batting, were on the move early as they hit a four each in the first over from Deepak Chahar. Kishan flicked one elegantly over backward square leg while Green muscled one over wide mid off. Tushar Deshpande bowled the second over and struck straightaway as he cleaned up Green (6 off 4) who went for a swing across the line and missed it completely. The CSK pacer gave away just three runs. Chahar struck in the next over sending back Ishan Kishan (7 off 9) who miscued his swing to mid on where Maheesh Theekshana made no mistake. Chahar made it two wickets in the over as MS Dhoni masterclass brought Rohit Sharma’s wicket. Dhoni came up to the stumps to Rohit (0 off 3) who then looked to do something different and scoop one to fine leg but ended up getting an outside edge to backward point.
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Disciplined bowled and terrific ground fielding made sure CSK restricted MI to 34/3 inside the Powerplay. MI hit just four fours in the first six overs.
Suryakumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera then started the rebuilding process. They upped the ante in the eighth over, cracking a couple of fours to make it 11 off the Moeen Ali over. Suryakumar brought up the 50-run stand, off 42 balls, with a four via extra cover drive as MI reached 64/3 at the halfway stage. However, MI received a huge blow in the next over as Jadeja cleaned up Suryakumar Yadav (26 off 22) with a quicker one as the batter looked to give himself room and go for a powerful cut but was beaten by the pace.
CSK kept a tight leash on the MI batters. Wadhera and Stubbs then looked to up the scoring as Wadhera smashed a powerful six over long on, off Theekshana and then Stubbs swept one for four two balls later to make it 13 off the over. Wadhera brought up his fifty, off 46 balls and hit three well-placed fours off Jadeja in the same over to make it the best over so far in the innings for MI with 16 runs.
CSK introduced Ambati Rayudu as their Impact Player, replacing Theekshana who had completed his quota of overs.
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Pathirana finally ended a fine innings under pressure as he cleaned up Wadhera (64 off 51) with a yorker. The batter shuffled way across and looked to flick but Pathirana smartly bowled a yorker on middle which Wadhera missed. Pathirana bowled a fantastic 18th over, giving away just two and picking up a wicket. Tushar Deshpande then got the huge wicket of the in-form Tim David, having him caught at long off for 2(4) in the penultimate over. Deshpande could have had second in the over but Shivam Dube dropped Arshad Khan at long off. Arshad’s luck didn’t last long though as he hit one straight to deep point where Ruturaj Gaikwad took a juggling catch, off Pathirana in the last over. Pathirana got his third wicket as he made Stubbs miscue one high in the air and Jadeja completed an excellent catch. Pathirana gave away just five runs and picked up two wickets in the last over as CSK restricted MI to 139/8. Pathirana finished with brilliant figures of 4-0-15-3 and didn’t concede a single boundary in the spell.
MI introduced debutant Raghav Goyal as their Impact Player, replacing Suryakumar Yadav , at the start of their bowling innings.
