All round excellence of Hardik Pandya in one of his best days post comeback from Injury ,Not only got him the man of the match ,But gave his team a much needed victory against CSK ,Which happenned to be MIs 100th victory in IPL.
After being put into bat first by CSK, Mumbai Indians accelerated themselves to 170-5 from being 57 -3 at the halfway mark.
Earlier ,The home team, MI had made two changes by adding Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorff ( An IPL debutant ) and 19-year-old leg spin bowler Rahul Chahar to the XI in place of Mitchell McClenaghan and Mayank Markande Respectively .
Losing De Kock for 4(7) 1x4, Rohit Sharma 13(18) 1x4 and Yuvraj Singh 4(6) with 50 runs on the board and 8.3 overs done and dusted, was indeed a big blows for MI .
Deepak Chahar dismissed De Kock caught at Square leg by Kedhar Jadhav. A faint edge showed Rohit Sharma the way back to pavilion as Dhoni completed yet another great catch, Which made Jadeja get a wicket in the first ball he bowled in the match.
Yuvraj was dismissed in a failed attempt to hit a six over long -Off, As Rayudu completed a tricky catch close to the rope. Tahir was the wicket-taker on this occasion
Suryakumar Yadav was anchoring the innings at one end ,While Krunal Pandya gave him good company at the other end . He even survived by virtue of a dropped catch by Mohit Sharma when Bravo was bowling the 13th over .
In the immediate next over, Krunal, fortunately, found an inside edge when Thakur was the bowler. A 32 ball 42 knock by Krunal Pandya, Was put to an end by Mohit Sharma in the 17th over. Jadeja took the catch to complete the wicket.
From being 119/3 at the end of 17 overs ,MI added 51 more runs off the last 3 overs for the loss of 1 wickets The final over by Bravo, Yielded 29 runs .
Suryakumar Yadav got out to Bravo, Caught by Jadeja after scoring a vital 43 ball 59 with 8 fours and a six.
Even at that Juncture ,MI were at 125/5 and Hardik had scored 1(2)
Hardik went wild and scored 24 more runs of the next 6 balls he got to face (1 four and 3 sixes in a total of 25* ) Pollard made an impact in this season for the first time with his 7 balls 17* run cameo which featured 2 sixes. Ravindra Jadeja 2/10(2 overs 6 dot balls ) and Imran Tahir 1-25(4 overs 9 dot balls ) , were the two CSK bowlers who went below 7 per over today.
Deepak Chahar didn't get to bowl the final over of his quota. He went for 21 in his 3 overs. Bravo's spell suffered the heaviest damage as 49 runs were scored in his 4 overs ,A spell which had just 5 dot balls .
Chasing 171 to win, CSK got put to the back foot early, As De Kock and Behrendoff combo sent Rayudu out for a golden duck in the fourth ball of the innings. In the very next over, Watson fell to a short ball by Malinga as the Queenslander got caught by Pollard on the second attempt.Watson's score was 5(6) 1x4.
Raina, In an attempt to attack a short ball by Behrend of, got out caught by Pollard. A stunning display of catching at sweeper cover restricted Raina's contribution to a 15 ball 16. An innings which actually had 2 fours and a six.
At the end of 5 overs, CSK were strangled by MI to a mere 33-3 .
A 57 run stand between Kedhar Jadhav and MS Dhoni, Was separated, As Dhoni got out to Hardik Pandya, Caught by Suryakumar at Square leg in the 15th over. Pandya sent Jadeja off in the same over by virtue of an excellent catch by wicketkeeper De Kock. At the 15 over standpoint CSK were 94/5.
Amidst a chaotic situation, Kedhar Jadhav registered his 4th IPL fifty and was eventually dismissed by Malinga in the 18th over for a 54 ball 58 with 8 fours and a six.
QDK -Malinga duo struck once again as Bravo got out for 8(9) 1x6 in the same over.
In the last over of the match ,Hardik Pandya picked up Deepak Chahar as his 3rd wicket .Bumrah completed the catch at deep backward square leg .
In the end, An inconsequential blitz of 12*(5) 1x4 1x6 by Shardul Thakur, Only reduced the margin of defeat to 37 runs, As MI shrinked CSK to 133/8 . Besides Hardik Pandya who picked up 3/24 (4 overs and 14 dot balls ) Lasith Malinga also picked up 3 wickets although he conceeded 34 runs. Jason Behrendoff made a great first impression in IPL arena with 2/22 (4 overs 15 dots)
CSK will head back to home to play two concecutive home games ,Against Kings XI Punjab on saturday evening and Kolkatta knight riders on monday night respectively .
- Kumaran Kumanan
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