The 27th match of IPL 2018 saw Chennai Super Kings locking horns with the Mumbai Indians in Pune, where the latter registered a nerve-wrecking 8-wicket victory.
After being into put into bat, CSK rode on Ambati Rayudu’s 35-ball 46 and Suresh Raina’s 47-ball 75* to put on a competitive total of 169/5 on the board. Mitchell McClenaghan and Krunal Pandya were the pick of the bowlers for MI as the duo scalped 4 wickets between them.
While McClenaghan got the prize scalp of MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo in the latter part of the innings, Pandya claimed the wickets CSK openers – Shane Watson and Rayudu.
Mumbai Indians needed a solid platform upfront to chase this stiff target and their openers –Suryakumar Yadav (44 runs off 34 balls) and Evin Lewis provided it with a steady 69-run stand for the first wicket. After Yadav’s dismissal, MI skipper Rohit Sharma promoted himself at the crucial No. 3 position and reminded everyone of his class once again.
Firstly, Sharma shared a 59-run partnership with Lewis (47 runs off 43 balls) and then followed it up with an unbeaten run stand with Hardik Pandya (16 runs off 8 balls).
Rohit remained not out on 33-ball 56 (6 fours and 2 sixes) as the defending champions chased down the target with 2 balls to spare. It was Mumbai’s second victory out of the seven matches that they have played in this year’s IPL thus far.
Just like any other IPL match, Twitterverse was buzzing. Here are some of the top tweets lauding Mumbai’s commendable run-chase against the table-toppers of IPL 2018:
@ImRo45 is watching #selectdugout hitting left handed 6’s !!! #loveit
— Dean Jones (@ProfDeano) April 28, 2018
Rohit has to bat at 3 tonight. Agree? #CSKvMI #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 28, 2018
Captain's knock by Rohit ????????????#CSKvMI
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) April 28, 2018
#MumbaiIndians needed their captain to play the kind of innings he can. Top effort from #RohitSharma
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 28, 2018
My MOM decided: @ImRo45 for batting brilliantly, but more importantly captaining superbly to restrict Chennai to just 169
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 28, 2018
Well played captain #sharma! Much needed win for #MumbaiIndians.. I assume they have got the momentum back. #CSKvMI #VIVOIPL2018
— Prragyan Ojha (@pragyanojha) April 28, 2018
Fantastic batting @ImRo45 excellent innings as captain under pressure. Huge win for @mipaltan
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) April 28, 2018
Congratulations @mipaltan on the victory, Well Played @ImRo45 & @ImRaina #CSKvsMI
— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) April 28, 2018