Chennai Super Kings stamped an authoritative win over Mumbai Indians, clinching the match by 6 wickets on Friday.
In reply to the 187 posted by Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings opened with their regulars Brendon McCullum and Smith, who seemed to be in a hurry to get the job done. They blazed away to 72/0 in 5 overs, Smith bringing up his 50 in the 6th over. Just when it was raining fours and sixes, Harbhajan came into the attack and dismissed McCullum for 46 in the 8th over, bringing Raina into the middle. However, he didn’t stop at that and sent back Smith as well, for 62 in the same over. At the end of 10 overs, the score was 128/2, 56 required off 60 balls.
Faf du Plessis and Raina continued, helping the chase progress, but du Plessis was done in by Malinga for 11 in the 13th over, bringing ace finisher Dhoni into the crease. But then, he was sent back sooner than expected by Pollard for 3, taking the score to 168/4 in 15 over, 16 required off 30 deliveries. Bravo was the next man in and the deal was sealed with almost 3 overs to spare.
Earlier, the Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat first. And they couldn’t have asked for a worse start possible. Opener Parthiv Patel was taken by Nehra for 0 in the very first over, bringing together Corey Anderson and Lendl Simmons. Nehra had some wicked plans up his sleeve, as he next tumbled the wicket of Anderson for 4 in the 3rd over, bringing in Rohit Sharma. Simmons was the next man to walk back, dismissed by Pandey for 5. At the end of 5 overs, the score was 20/3.
The third wicket brought Harbhajan Singh and Rohit Sharma together, and they played very cautiously, with Harbhajan’s useful cameo of 24 being ended by Mohit Sharma in the 10th over, which took the score to 62/4. Pollard was the new man in and he got to business straightaway, slamming the big ones, but skipper Sharma departed after notching up his 50, deceived by Nehra. At the end of 15 overs, the score was 132/5.
With this wicket, Rayudu walked into the middle, and stepped on the accelerator, until Bravo decided to bowl the last over, claiming two scalps — Rayudu (29) and Pollard (64) to make sure that the damage was controlled. At the end of 20 overs, Mumbai Indians managed 183/7.