#CSKvsMI #Chennai Chennai opt to bowl

CSK XI: 1 M Vijay, 2 Shane Watson, 3 Suresh Raina (capt), 4 Kedar Jadhav, 5 Ambati Rayudu (wk), 6 Dhruv Shorey, 7 Mitchell Santner, 8 Dwayne Bravo, 9 Deepak Chahar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Imran Tahir

In : Murali Vijay ,Dhruv Shorey ,Mitchell Santner
Out : MS Dhoni ,Ravindra Jadeja ,Faf Du Plessia

MI XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Quinton de Kock (wk), 3 Evin Lewis, 4 Kieron Pollard, 5 Hardik Pandya, 6 Krunal Pandya, 7 Suryakumar Yadav, 8 Rahul Chahar, 9 Anukul Roy, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Lasith Malinga

In : Evin Lewis and Anukul Roy
Out :Ben Cutting and Mayank Markande

MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja were sat out oc the match due to Illness

Put in to bat first , MI lost De Kock early by virtue of a leading edge off a slower ball, which induced a leading edge and the ball ballooned up to be caught by Wicketkeeper Rayudu.QDK had a four and a six in his 9 balls 15 before he got out in the third over when the score was 24.

A 75 run stand between Rohit Sharma and Evin Levis, off 57 balls, got some stability to MI.

Yet, That was due to the fact that CSK actually missed appealing for an edged catch in the last ball of the power play,When neither Rayudu nor Harbhajan realized that there was an edge, which eventually was revealed by "Ultra edge " Levis could have been gone for 17 off 14 had that been become a dismissal . At the end of the powerplay, CSK would have been 45/2 instead of 45/1.

Eventually, The stand continued till the first ball of the 13th over (12.1) and then Evin Lewis was caught by fellow Trinidadian Bravo, off Santner's bowling. The Windies left-hander scored 32(30) 3x4 6x1

Soon after this happened, Rohit Sharma reached his first half-century of this season, Which in fact, Is his first score of 50 or more after almost a year; after 2018 fixture vs CSK at Pune.

Krunal Pandya had a blink and a missed day with the bat as he was dismissed for 1(3) by Imran Tahir . Santner caught the ball which came off Krunal's bat, in a totally mistimed slog sweep.

At that point, MI were 101-3(13.1) The next two overs saw just four runs and therefore, I was strangled to 105/3 off 15 overs.

Rohit perished in an attempt to boost the run rate in the 17th over, by getting caught by M.Vijay at long- on, off a tossed up delivery by Santner. Rohit's 67, Came off 48 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes.

When Pollard came in next to bat, He had two slips placed for him, A pure rarity in T20s. Santner's spell of 4-0-13-2 came to an end with this over. His spell had 15 dot balls.

Harbhajan's spell had 13 dots, Yet, His final over went for 14 runs including 2 sixes by Rohit I was struggling at 128/4 in 18 overs.

A ten run penultimate over by Chahar and a 17 run last over by Bravo, Powered MI to their eventual score of 155/4, As Hardik Pandya and Pollard did what they are good at, Although they did struggle initially.

Horror scenes were about to come at the beginning of the CSK chase, A template of this season.

Watson smacked two consecutive fours of Malinga's over and then hit the ball straight to short fine leg fielder Rahul Chahar in the fifth delivery.

Raina fell as the second wicket in the fourth over as he swung hard to a length delivery by Hardik Pandya and got out Caught by Suryakumar Yadav at backward point. The CSK acting captain's contribution was just 2 of 4.

Rayudu was the next to go as he missed a quicker one by left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya by playing completely down the wrong line and eventually getting out bowled. This was actually a four-ball duck in the fifth over of the match.

Jadhav didn't contribute much either, as He tried to cut Krunal Pandya and chopped the ball onto the stumps; Even after failing on the cut short in the previous over. Jadhav's struggle saw him score just 6 of 11, and get out in the tenth over of the game.

While M.Vijay was calm and composed even after a dropped catch by Anukul Roy off Malinga's bowling earlier, The comeback man was running short of Partners.

The 26-year-old Delhi batsman Dhruv Shorey too wasn't effective today. The ball got hit in the inside half of the bat and Rahul Chahar eventually pouched it at long -on. After scoring 5(8), Shorey became the first IPL wicket of newcomer Anukul Roy.

Murali Vijay failed to carry on the base he had set for himself. He got out to Bumrah, As Suryakumar Yadav took a diving catch at point. It took a long time to confirm the cleanliness and the genuineness in the catch. The on-field umpire was convinced with the soft signal and gave it out.

That got an end to Vijay's knock,35(35) 3x4 1x6.

CSK were 66/6 at that juncture in 11.4 overs.

A 33 run stand between Bravo and Santner which came in 4.2 overs, Was put to an end by virtue of a well disguised slower ball and a return catch by Malinga. CSK were tottering at 99/7 at the end of 16 overs when Bravo got out for 20 off 17 with two fours.

Deepak Chahar mistimed a pull and went without scoring in the second ball he faced. Krunal Pandya took a great catch by running in from deep midwicket

Malinga in his final over, The 18th of the match, Got the wickets of Harbhajan and Santner to restrict CSK to 109. Santner's 22 off 20 (2x6) was only the second double-digit score in CSK's innings. In fact this was the only innings with conviction.

Mumbai Indians won the match by 46 runs. Rohit Sharma got the man of the match award.

CSK's last home fixture is scheduled to be played against the Delhi capitals, on May Day

- Kumaran Kumanan

Images Courtesy - iplt20.com