Mumbai Indians register their second victory of the tournament.
Skipper Rohit Sharma played a captain's knock to help Mumbai Indians (MI) defeat Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets on Saturday. The win took the defending champions to sixth position in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 points table.
CSK posted 164 batting first at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. The hosts got there thanks to a brilliant 47-ball 75 by vice captain Suresh Raina. The total proved to be insufficient, though, as Rohit's unbeaten 56 off 33 led Mumbai to a dominating eight-wicket win. Evin Lewis (47) and Suryakumar Yadav (44) were the other key contributors in the chase.
Suresh Raina smashed his way to an unbeaten 75 as Chennai Super Kings produced a disciplined batting effort to post a competitive 169-5 against Mumbai Indians in their IPL fixture here today.
Raina, who had missed a couple of matches due to a calf injury, hit the fences six times and blasted four sixes in his unconquered innings after Ambati Rayudu (46 off 35 balls) continued his impressive run and set the foundation for Chennai.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also chipped in with 26 off 21 balls which was studded three boundaries and a six but Mumbai Indians bowled well in the death overs to restrict them within 170 in the end. Mitchell McClenaghan (2/26) and Krunal Pandya (2/32) were the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai, while Hardik Pandya (1/39) also scalped one wicket.
Put into bat, Ambati Rayudu gave a flying start to Chennai after opening his innings with a six off McClenaghan in the third ball. His partner Shane Watson, however, couldn't stay long as his attempted slog sweep off spinner Krunal landed on the safe hands of Mayank Markande at square leg.
Raina then joined Rayudu and the duo blasted a six each to accumate 15 runs off the over as CSK scored 39-1 in 5 overs. The Mumbaikar then sent the ball soaring over the ropes and hit a four to take his team across the 50-mark in the powerplay overs. Raina sent Krunal across the ropes in the next over, before young spin sensation Markande was introduced and he bowled a tight over.
Ben Cutting was next introduced into the attack and Rayudu smacked him over long-on, while Raina punched him across extra cover to accumulate 14 runs and complete their 50-run partnership. Markande was next in line for Raina as he sent him for a boundary over his head before sending the ball sailing over long-on as CSK scored 91 for 1 off 10 overs.
In the 12th over, Krunal dismissed the dangerous Rayudu when he tried to clear the ropes with a sweep shot but ended up hitting straight to Cutting at deep midwicket. Hero of CSK's last match, skipper Dhoni then joined Raina in the middle as CSK crossed the 100-mark in the 13th over bowled by Bumrah, who gave just one run.
In the 15th over, Dhoni smashed Hardik for back-to-back boundaries and then slammed Markande for an inside-out shot across the cover boundaries before depositing him over long-on. Bumrah then came back for his second spell and Raina sent him across the short fine leg boundary and then flicked another one for another four to complete his half-century.
McClenaghan then returned to remove Dhoni, who ended up giving an easy catch to Evin Lewis at deep cover as CSK slipped to 143-3 in 17.1 overs. One ball later, newman Dwayne Bravo was also sent packing with Markande taking the catch at point.
Raina then smashed Bumrah over deep midwicket to take CSK across the 150-mark. Sam Billing also tried to scrore big but ended up hitting straight to cutting at long-on. Eventually, Raina ended the innings with a six off the last ball.
(Inputs from PTI)
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 "Rohit Sharma in action on Saturday")
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