Magnificent Ruturaj gives Chennai Super Kings victory over Mumbai Indians

The second half of the 2021 Indian Premier League resumed in the UAE with the marquee clash between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, and the fixture once again lived up to the hype as Chennai fought back hard to beat Mumbai by 20 runs. CSK were effectively reduced to 24-5 inside the powerplay, but an excellent innings of 88* from Ruturaj Gaikwad propelled CSK to a match-winning total before the bowlers finished the job to help Chennai beat the defending Champions and take MS Dhoni’s side to the top of the table.

Despite missing stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya, Mumbai got off to an excellent start in the powerplay thanks to Kiwi speedsters – Trent Boult and Adam Milne. Boult regularly struck early for Mumbai last season in the UAE, and for the 10th time in his IPL career, the left-armer got a wicket in his first over as Faf du Plessis guided one straight to short third-man. His compatriot Adam Milne struck from the other end in his first over as well, with the wicket of Moeen Ali before getting a delivery to strike Ambati Rayudu on the forearm, which prompted his retirement.

CSK’s problems compounded after Trent Boult got the measure of Suresh Raina – who struggled to deal with the Kiwi’s pace and short-pitched bowling – before MS Dhoni smashed a short delivery from Milne straight towards fine leg. CSK were reeling at (effectively) 24-5 after the powerplay, but Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 33) eventually steadied the ship for the Men in Yellow and put together a crucial partnership off 81 runs.

Gaikwad was dropped by De Kock on 19 and punished Mumbai after this reprieve as he reached his 6th IPL half-century in only 14 appearances for the team. Bumrah made the breakthrough with the wicket of Jadeja, but Gaikwad and Bravo (23 off 8) plundered 58 runs in the last four overs to take CSK to an excellent total of 156 – with the opener finishing with his highest score in the IPL on 88*.

For Mumbai, the run chase never gathered any momentum throughout the innings as Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo continued to make the breakthroughs throughout the innings for Chennai. Quinton de Kock was trapped on his pads after hitting a trio of boundaries before Deepak Chahar deceived debutant Anmolpreet Singh with a knuckleball. The wickets kept tumbling as Shardul Thakur removed Suryakumar Yadav in the final over of the powerplay while Ishan Kishan hit a delivery straight into the hands of Suresh Raina at short-extra cover.

Mumbai were still in the game with Kieron Pollard at the crease, but the Mumbai captain couldn’t recreate his heroics from the last time these two sides met in the IPL as Josh Hazelwood struck the decisive blow and trapped Pollard on his back leg LBW with 71 still to get.

Saurabh Tiwary scored a valiant half-century for Mumbai, but the asking rate proved to be a tall ask for Mumbai’s lower order as Chennai comfortably eased to victory by 20 runs.