Indian Premier League is a high-profile domestic league that has a lot of fan following across the globe. IPL is the only domestic tournament that has been recognized by ICC as a global T20 league. The second leg of the world's most celebrated domestic T20 league has resumed yesterday in UAE.

Yes, the remainder of IPL 2021 kickstarted on 19th September with the mighty Chennai Super Kings locking horns with the defending champions Mumbai Indians in the Dubai stadium. The arch-rivals taking on each other gave a befitting start to the second leg of the season.

CSK made a spectacular comeback in this edition after suffering a disastrous season in 2020. The Chennai franchise topped the points table the most in 2021. Although they were in 2nd position before yesterday's match, the super kings won back their place by clinching victory against MI.

MI captain Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya were absent in the playing XI yesterday and Keiron Pollard donned the skipper role in the high-voltage game. CSK brought in the Australian fast bowler Josh Hazlewood and the England all-rounder Sam Curran had to miss the game as he is in quarantine. CSK's skipper MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat.

CSK's batting top order collapsed against Boult and Milne. The Chennai team had lost the four big wickets Du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Raina and Dhoni with Ambati Rayudu opt-out by retired hurt due to an injury. The gifted Ruturaj Gaikwad laid the foundation with an unbeaten 58-ball 88 to power Chennai Super Kings.

Gaikwad batted through the innings to lift Chennai Super Kings from a precarious 7/3 to 156/6. The fielders dropped the catch of Ruturaj when he was 18 which cost Mumbai the loss. While Ravindra Jadeja accompanied Gaikwad with a stable partnership, the late spark was provided by Bravo (23 off 8 balls). His quick cameo recovered CSK from a disastrous start to put up a fighting total.

Thala Dhoni's CSK put a promising 156 runs on the board at end of the tension-filled innings. MI had conceded big numbers in the final overs. The pacers Boult and Bumrah failed to stop the batsmen in the death overs. The messiah of the day, Gaikwad swept away Bumrah's yorkers to boundaries.

Chasing 157 on a pitch where the ball often stopped on the batsmen, MI too were off to a poor start as they slipped to 41/3 at the end of the batting powerplay. CSK's Deepak Chahar knocked 2 crucial wickets and paved the way for the team's victory. Josh Hazlewood had taken down the big-hitting all-rounder Pollard's wicket.

CSK brightened their prospects further when the Bravo-Thala Dhoni combo trapped Krunal Pandya's wicket by run-out. Saurabh Tiwary tried his best to save the match but could not succeed, ended up with a deserving half-century. Bravo assured the success of CSK both with bat and ball.

Ruturaj Gaikwad was awarded the man of the match award for saving CSK from a disastrous defeat. With this victory, CSK rises to the top of the points table by a points tally of 12 with 6 wins from their 8 games. Mumbai is at the 4th position in the table with 8 points. They had won 4 out of their 8 games and lost 4 matches in IPL 2021.

Picture Courtesy: IPLT20.COM