Pune’s MCA stadium saw Chennai Super Kings take on Mumbai Indians in the 27th match of the India Premier League (IPL) 2018. CSK had won the previous encounter between the two brilliant teams of the IPL history.
MI’s Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided to bowl first on a typical Pune pitch. MI made two changes in bringing in Ben Cutting and JP Duminy for Mustafizur Rahman and Kieron Pollard respectively. Chennai, on the other hand, went in unchanged.
Shane Watson was dismissed for 12 by Krunal Pandya. Rayudu (46 off 35 balls) and Raina added 75 runs for the second wicket. After he was dismissed by Krunal Pandya, Dhoni came in for a cameo of 26 runs in 21 balls.
However, it was Suresh Raina, who carried the CSK innings with a masterful 75* in 47 balls with 6 fours and 4 sixes. Chennai made 169/5 in 20 overs, despite being 90 odd at the end of 12th over.
For MI, Mitchell McClenaghan (2/26) and Krunal Pandya (2/32) were the main bowlers.
MI had a seemingly gettable target to chase. Suryakumar Yadav started off brilliantly to give MI innings momentum. He scored 44 off 34 balls, as Evin Lewis struggled with his timing. Lewis himself scored a scratchy 47 off 43 balls in the match. He was dismissed by Dwayne Bravo.
Now it was up to captain Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. And the duo took Mumbai Indians to a much-needed win. Rohit remained not out on 56 in 33 balls with 2 sixes and 6 fours. Hardik made 13*.
Harbhajan Singh was the best bowler for CSK with 1/20, though they missed Deepak Chahar, who went out injured after bowling just 2.1 overs.
It was a much-needed win for MI and they won it by strangling CSK in their innings during the middle overs. Then, MI didn't panic in crunch situations and Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav ensured that MI won.
BRIEF SCORES:
CSK 169/5 (S RAINA 75*; M McCLENAGHAN 2/26) lost to MI 170/2 ( R SHARMA 56*; H SINGH 1/20) BY 8 wkts
