Mumbai Indians got its wobbling Indian Premier League campaign back on track, defeating a star-studded Chennai Super Kings by 37 runs at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
After Hardik Pandya and Kieron Pollard’s quick-fire play at the fag-end propelled Mumbai Indians to 170-5, it restricted the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led team to 133-8, bagging its second victory of the season.
As it happened| All-round MI beats CSK by 37 runs
The two teams came into the contest with contrasting results — Chennai Super Kings had won all of its last three games, while Mumbai managed a solitary win in between two defeats. But in front of a boisterous Mumbai crowd, the host side put up a spirited performance.
Chasing 171, Chennai got off to the worst possible start, losing openers Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson for just six runs.
Though Suresh Raina tried to steady the ship, hitting a couple of boundaries and a six, his very nearly run-a-ball 16 was cut short, courtesy a stunning catch by Kieron Pollard off Jason Behrendorff.
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But with captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and Kedar Jadhav (who played a knock of 58), stitching a partnership of 54 runs for the fourth wicket, Super Kings slowly crawled its way back into the contest.
However, the Mumbai pace trio of Lasith Malinga (3-34), Behrendorff (2-22) and Hardik (2-9) tightened the noose with some tight bowling that choked an usually aggressive CSK middle-order.
Dhoni's dismissal for a modest 12 off 21 balls piled further misery on the visiting side, with the required run rate going over 13 at one stage. Jadhav's 54-ball 58 gave Chennai hope but to no avail. His caught behind dismissal off Malinga nipped the chase in the bud.
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Put in to bat, Mumbai got off to a slow start, and till the 18th over, the Chennai bowlers kept the lid on the scoring. But the script changed completely when in the last over, Pollard — unbeaten on 17 off 7 — and Hardik — 25 off 8 — collected 29 off CSK’s seasoned campaigner, Dwayne Bravo.
Having lost openers Rohit Sharma and de Kock for less than 50 runs on the board, Mumbai recovered well through Suryakumar Yadav's 43-ball 59. Yadav added 62 runs for the fourth wicket with Krunal (42 off 32) before the two fell to Bravo and Mohit Sharma respectively but Pollard and Hardik's blitz eventually paved way for its victory.
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