Clinical CSK pummel MI to move into second

The Chennai Super Kings dispatched the Mumbai Indians with ease in the IPL’s most-anticipated encounter, beating the five-time champions by six wickets to jump to the second spot in the table. On a slow pitch offering turn, it was the Chennai pacers who set up the victory for the Men in Yellow in the Lion’s Den. Deepak Chahar fired with the new ball while Matheesha Pathirana patrolled the death overs to restrict Mumbai to a below-par score of 139, a total which CSK cantered to with 14 balls to spare.

Mumbai chased down consecutive scores of 200 plus heading into this fixture but struggled after being put into bat first on a tricky Chennai wicket. The visitors experimented with a new opening combination of Cameron Green and Ishan Kishan, pushing run-shy captain Rohit Sharma down the order. The plan backfired. The Australian all-rounder was cleaned up by Tushar Desphande in the second over for six. To make matters worse, Ishan Kishan skied Deepak Chahar to mid-on while Rohit Sharma made a mess out of an attempted lap shot to fall for a duck in the third over, leaving Mumbai reeling at 14 for 3.

Suryakumar Yadav and Nehal Wadhera briefly steadied the Mumbai innings with a half-century partnership, but the visitors failed to get back ahead in the game as CSK kept things under control. Suryakumar Yadav fell to Jadeja after adding 55 runs with Wadhera, while Matheesha Pathirana delivered a stunning spell of 3 for 15 at the death to neutralise Mumbai’s lower-order muscle.

The Sri Lankan pacer removed Wadhera for 64 with a searing yorker and also dismissed the struggling Tristan Stubbs and Arshad Khan in the final over, limiting Mumbai to just 17 runs and one boundary in the final three overs.

Chasing 140, Chennai cruised home with Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway adding another 50-run stand at the top and Shivam Dube providing the finishing act. Gaikwad raced away to 29 off 14 deliveries in the powerplay, creaming Cameron Green for two fours in the opening over before going 6,4,4,6 against Arshad Khan to get the ball rolling. Gaikwad top-edged the first ball of Piyush Chawla’s spell to Ishan Kishan behind the stumps, but Chennai never looked in trouble as Conway and Rahane stitched another 35-run stand before Shivam Dube launched three sixes at the death to take the hosts home with six wickets to spare.

Chennai’s victory takes them to second in the table with 13 points from 11 matches, while Mumbai remain stuck outside the top 5, needing a minimum of three wins from their final four matches to claim a top-four spot.