Typical West Indian ‘never-say- die’ spirit of all-rounder Dwayne Bravo and a heroic little cameo from injured Kedar Jadhav helped the much-fancied Chennai Super Kings open their IPL tournament with a thrilling last-over victory over 3-time champion Mumbai Indians in front of a frantic Mumbai crowd at the Wankhede Stadium.

The win, which was never in CSK’s sight till the 18 th over started, gave them a ‘sweet revenge’ as they had lost their last match in IPL – during the final in 2015 to Mumbai Indians at the same ground. CSK didn’t play the 2016 and 2017 editions and was making a ‘comeback’ this year after three years.

Bravo had earlier displayed his amazing ‘death-bowling’ skills to restrict Mumbai to 165 in their 20 overs after they were sent in to bat first after CSK captain Dhoni won the toss. When he went into bat, CSK were tottering at 75 for 5 in 12 overs, requiring 91 runs in the last eight overs. Kedar Jadhav limped off the field five balls later, after injuring himself and with Deepak Chahar getting out for a first-ball duck, it seemed that everything was over for CSK which had slumped to 84 for 6 in 13 overs.

Bravo and Harbhajan put 21 runs together and Bravo added 13 more runs for the eighth wicket with Mark Wood, who departed in the 17 th over, leaving CSK needing 48 runs off 21 balls. Bravo hit 17 runs in the 18 th over bowled by McClenaghan and tore apart Jaspreet Bumrah, one of the best ‘death-over’ bowlers in cricket, by hitting 20 runs in the 19 th over before he got out. CSK still needed 7 runs from the last over.

Jadhav returned to the crease and thankfully had the strike all to himself. He pushed around the first three balls, refusing singles as he was neither in a position to run nor could be leave it to last man Imran Tahir. Jadhav scooped Muztafizur’s fourth ball over fine-leg for a six and then played an imperious cover drive in the fifth ball to hit a boundary to spark off celebrations in CSK’s dug-out as the players rushed into the Wankhede ground to hug and congratulate Kedar Jadhav.

Earlier, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav and Krunal Pandya hit valuable forties for MI.

Hardik’s brother Krunal Pandya, in particular, plundered runs in the last few overs to give MI’s score some respectability.Dwayne Bravo was declared the ‘Man of the Match’ for his match-winning 68 off 30 balls with
the help of seven towering sixes and three boundaries. Debutante leg-spinner Mayank Markande shone for MI taking three scalps including that of Dhoni.

Brief scores:

MI – 165 for 4 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 40, Suryakumar Yadav 43, Krunal
Panda 42*, Shane Watson 2-29) lost to CSK – 169 for 9 in 19.5 overs (Ambati Rayudu 22,
Kedar Jadhav 24*, Dwayne Bravo 68, Markande 3-23, Hardik Pandya 3-24)