MS Dhoni scored the game-winning runs on the final ball for Chennai.
MS Dhoni turned back the clock to guide Chennai Super Kings to a three-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians in the IPL on Thursday, following a heart-stopping conclusion in which he blasted a four off the last ball of the game. CSK played havoc with the new ball before Tilak Varma’s responsible 51 not out off 43 runs boosted the Mumbai Indians to 155 for seven.
CSK batted like a finisher from his heyday to help CSK win their second game of the season and extend the Mumbai Indians’ winless streak to seven games. He hammered a six and four off Jaydev Unadkat’s third and fourth balls before remaining composed to knock one past short-fine leg for the match-winning boundary, leaving the bowler and the rest of his Mumbai colleagues in shambles. With 48 runs off the last 24 balls and four wickets in hand, CSK was up against it, but Dhoni, with the support of Dwaine Pretorius (22 off 14 balls), ensured his team crossed the line in a nail-biter.
With seven losses in as many games, the Mumbai Indians will need a miracle to get themselves out of this hole, while it was a much-needed win for CSK, who, like the Mumbai Indians, are looking for stability after a shaky start to the season. Choudhary (3/19) had earlier dismissed Rohit Sharma (0) and Ishan Kishan (0) in the opening over, before dismissing Dewald Brewis (4) to leave Mumbai on 23/3.
Varma’s unbeaten 51 off 43 balls, which included three fours and two sixes, and Unadkat’s blazing unbeaten 19, both helped Mumbai reach 150 runs.
At mid-on, Kishan was undone by a swinging yorker that rocked his off-stump, while Rohit delivered a simple catch to Mitchell Santner at mid-on.
Choudhary’s third victim was Brewis (4). Brewis attempted to chase down a delivery outside the off-stump but nicked it to Dhoni. Suryakumar Yadav (32) got off to a good start with a boundary and a drive. He swept mystery spinner Mahesh Theekshana (1/35) for a maximum after creaming another drive off Choudhary. After the power-play, Mumbai was at 42/3.
Surya was dismissed by Mitchell Santner (1/16), whose sweep was easily taken by Choudhary at long-leg, reducing Mumbai to 47/4.
Tilak and Hrithik Shokeen (25), who was making his debut, attempted to recover the innings, but only managed to score 41 runs for the fifth wicket. Ravindra Jadeja (0/30) was hammered for 13 runs in the 11th overs, with Varma striking a six off a slog-sweep.
Half of Mumbai’s team was eliminated for a total of 85 points. Shokeen top-edged a Dwayne Bravo (2/36) short-ball only to be caught at mid-on by Robin Uthappa.
Mumbai’s wickets continued to tumble, with Kieron Pollard (14) and Daniel Sams (5) both falling cheaply.
Mumbai’s bowlers were given something to defend owing to a quick-fire 35-run, eight-wicket stand-off of 16 balls between Tilak and Unadkat.
Also, read IPL 2022, DC vs PBKS: David Warner and team bowlers shine as Delhi Capitals defeat Punjab Kings by 9 wickets.
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