Dube returned to his hallowed home turf in style. Ruturaj Gaikwad registered his personal best as the Chennai Super Kings captain. Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten hundred gave home fans multiple reasons to rejoice. And Matheesha Pathirana sealed a famous win for the visiting team in the mother of all Indian Premier League battles.
But it was the last four balls of the first innings that will not only go down in the annals of the IPL history but also ended up being the difference between the two teams. Riding on a certain Mahendra Singh Dhoni doing a Dhoni with a hat-trick of sixes and Pathirana doing a Bumrah, the Super Kings registered its first win away from home in IPL 2024.
Mumbai Indians, meanwhile, will head for a prolonged away leg having suffered its fourth loss in six games. Even though Rohit was going great, MI lost the plot, thanks to pitch-perfect bowling by the Super Kings bowlers in adverse conditions.
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With Mumbai Indians requiring 89 runs off the last eight overs, Rohit and Tilak Verma were in search of a breakaway over. However, Ravindra Jadeja finished his spell with a six-run over and Pathirana – having struck twice in his opening over – came back to get rid of Tilak in the next.
Shardul Thakur conceded two runs in the next while Tushar Deshpande gave away only three runs and forced captain Hardik Pandya – who was booed a couple of times on the night – to hole out in the deep.
With 72 runs required off the last four overs, it was always going to be a lost battle. Rohit managing to raise his second IPL hundred and reducing the victory margin meant the Mumbaikars returned home with a smile on their face.
The full house was treated to the fullest by Dhoni, who ended the CSK essay with a four-ball cameo. Dube and Gaikwad’s exploits – the duo adding 90 runs off 46 balls to dominate the middle overs – were overshadowed by the 20 runs that Dhoni smashed in the four balls he faced.
His three successive sixes off Hardik off the first three balls – over long-off, long-on and square-leg, respectively - helped the Super Kings to cross the 200-run mark against Mumbai Indians, a bare minimum at the Wankhede Stadium at this time of the year, considering the heavy impact dew cover has on the outcome of the game.
It eventually proved critical with the Super Kings winning by 20 runs.
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