Ambati Rayudu notched up his first half century of the season as defending champions Mumbai Indians battled their way to 157 for 6 in their IPL match against Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede Stadium here today.
One-down batsman Rayudu, whose previous highest score this season was 48, made 59 with four sixes and two fours in 43 balls before he was out in the 19th over.
Rayudu's stand of 61 in 54 balls with opener Lendl Simmons (38), playing his first game after being inducted into the squad in place of injured Jalaj Saxena and replacing Ben Dunk in the eleven, laid the platform after the early loss of opener Chidambaram Gautam for 9 in the third over.
Towards the end, left hander Corey Anderson (18 not out in six balls with two sixes) and Aditya Tare (9 with two fours) put on 28 runs in 12 balls to give the total some respectability after Mumbai were asked to bat first.
Mumbai made a decent start despite losing opener Gautam cheaply. The home team scored on 42 for 1 in the powerplay period of six overs. Simmons carted fellow West Indian Samuel Badree for two sixes over in the sixth over.
But, Mumbai scoring rate slumped later as they could add only 12 runs in the next three overs. The hosts accounted for 33 dot balls in the first nine overs at the end of which the score read 54 for 1. It became 57 for 1 after 10 overs.
Rayudu escaped being caught when Mithun Manhas made a mess of a chance at deep extra cover off Ravindra Jadeja and then celebrated it by slog-sweeping the left-arm spinner for a six over midwicket.
Simmons departed when he tried to give charge to R Ashwin and was caught at long on for a run-a-ball 38 that included two sixes and three fours. The stand between him and Rayudu was worth 61 off 54 balls.
The next five overs produced 42 runs leaving Mumbai at 99 for 2 after 15 overs. Though Rayudu carted Jadeja for another six over long on, things had been kept tight by CSK bowlers.
The 18th over bowled by Ashwin, his last, was dramatic as it produced two wickets -- of Mumbai skipper Rohit and Kieron Pollard -- in four balls besides a six over long on by Rayudu.
Rohit and Pollard were both caught in deep mid wicket by Suresh Raina to help Ashwin finish with 3/30. Rayudu fell the next over off Mohit and Mumbai were struggling at 129 for 5.
A couple of boundary hits by Tare against Mohit Sharma in the penultimate over and two sixes struck by Anderson off Ishwar Pandey in final over helped Mumbai finish with a 150-plus score.
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