By Chennai Super Kings overcame Mumbai Indians in a hard-fought contest that featured several remarkable individual contributions on either side. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube hit fifties for CSK, while MS Dhoni made a significant impact towards the end. For Mumbai, Rohit Sharma smashed a century, but it was Matheesha Pathirana’s four-wicket haul that proved to be a big difference-maker.
Pathirana delivered the body blows, picking up crucial wickets against a strong batting lineup. His immediate impact in the eighth over resulted in the dismissals of Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, both key players for Mumbai. Pathirana’s late strikes also removed Tim David and Romario Shepherd, limiting Mumbai’s boundary options in the death overs.
Rohit’s century went in vain as CSK’s bowlers tightened the screws in the middle overs. Despite Rohit’s valiant effort, Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande’s economical bowling in the death overs restricted Mumbai’s chase. Thakur’s crucial wicket of Hardik Pandya added to Mumbai’s woes, ultimately leading to their defeat.
Rohit ton went in vain
Chennai’s batting innings progressed steadily, with a final flourish propelling them to a competitive total. A change in the batting order, with Ajinkya Rahane opening instead of Ruturaj Gaikwad, did not yield the desired impact initially. However, Gaikwad’s aggressive batting, along with Shivam Dube’s power hitting, set the stage for a strong finish. Dube’s quickfire fifty, supported by Gaikwad’s composed innings, helped CSK post a challenging total.
In the end, MS Dhoni’s cameo, featuring a hat-trick of sixes in the final over, powered CSK past the 200-run mark. Despite a late scare with the loss of a couple of wickets, Dhoni’s blitz ensured a formidable total for CSK, which proved to be the decisive margin of victory.
Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 206/4 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 69, Shivam Dube 66) beat Mumbai Indians 186/6 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 105; Matheesha Pathirana 4-28) by 20 runs
What’s next?
Mumbai Indians will travel to Mullanpur to take on Punjab Kings on April 18, while Chennai Super Kings will be in Lucknow on April 19 for their next fixture against the Super Giants.
