Chennai Super Kings 160 for 6 (Smith 57, Malinga 2-15) beat Mumbai Indians 157 for 6 (Rayudu 59, Ashwin 3-30) by four wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
| Hattangadi: Pollard and Anderson not utilised well |
It's a tight Saturday prime-time IPL match involving the two highest profile franchises in the tournament. Guess who delivers when it's a big game? MS Dhoni is perhaps the best finisher in the limited-overs game, and when Chennai Super Kings needed a big hit in the final over, he duly obliged, as he has so many times in the past. It came down to 11 off the last over, and Dhoni responded by calmly whacking a six over deep midwicket before wrapping up the victory with three balls to spare.
The last time Mumbai Indians lost an IPL game at the Wankhede Stadium was back in 2012, so long ago that their openers were Sachin Tendulkar and Herschelle Gibbs. The 10-game winning streak at home was built on muscular batting and depth in the bowling, neither of which were in evidence today.
After the peerless Lasith Malinga had produced another superb Twenty20 burst to drag them back into the game, Mumbai had to turn to Kieron Pollard for the final over. #BreachTheFortress Super Kings had been tweeteing all day, and when the fortress had to be defended from Dhoni in the final over by amiable medium-pace, there was only going to be one winner.
Mumbai didn't help their cause by again keeping their biggest guns in the holster too long - Rohit Sharma came in towards the end of the 12th over, Kieron Pollard got a look-in only in the 18th, and Corey Anderson even later. When Rohit walked in, the run-rate was still hovering around six. The inclusion of Lendl Simmons worked better than the ill-fated experiment with Ben Dunk, but they will still expect quicker innings than a run-a-ball 38 from their specialist overseas batsman.
On a surface where Super Kings brought in an extra spinner in Samuel Badree, and on which R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja got plenty of assistance, Mumbai's spin department featured only Harbhajan Singh. Though chances of qualification for the play-offs are becoming remote, there were a couple of heartening things for Mumbai fans - Praveen Kumar showed he can be venomous with the new ball, and Ambati Rayudu shrugged off a run of lean scores with a half-century that anchored the innings.
Super Kings looked to be in control for much of the chase, helped along by a stop-start Dwayne Smith half-century, though they were rocked by a couple of woeful umpiring decisions. Brendon McCullum was sent on his way though the ball was clearly headed down the leg side, and the third umpire decided Suresh Raina was stumped though the replays suggested otherwise. They were also helped by the umpiring in the 17th over, just as the nerves were beginning to jangle: Jadeja was dead plumb to a full slower ball from Malinga, but the umpire somehow thought the ball would miss the stumps. He wasn't misled by Jadeja waving the bat as if to suggest he hit the ball, and the call of leg-byes only made the decision even more inexplicable.
Before the late drama, perhaps the highlight of the match was the astonishing range of boundary catches and drops - Mithun Manhas put down a sitter at long-on, Harbhajan Singh misjudged the line and could only get one hand on a midwicket six at a crucial juncture of the chase, Samuel Badree judged the ball perfectly at third man but could only push the ball over for six early on, Jadeja caught the ball at deep midwicket but failed to let the ball go before crossing the line, Simmons juggled three times before pocketing the ball at long-on, Raina took a couple of difficult tumbling efforts at midwicket, and the biggest wow-moment was Faf du Plessis flying across to catch a brutal hit at long-on before releasing the ball mid-air as he headed for the rope.
While the packed house roared on all that athleticism, they had come to see a Mumbai win. They got the second best thing - seeing the biggest name in Indian cricket do what he does best.
Mumbai's home streak ended at 10
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Mumbai's home streak ended at 10
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Mumbai's home streak ended at 10
