Delhi became the latest host to feature arguably one of IPL’s premier fixtures. The well-documented rivalry, whose trophy cabinet combined, boasts of 8 IPL trophies, features Mumbai Indians (MI) against Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Toss and Team News
Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bowl first at the venue which has a 100% chasing record so far. The defending champions continued to shuffle their team. After dropping Ishan Kishan for the last match, they introduced two changes for this elite fixture.
Dhawal Kulkarni and Jimmy Neesham were roped in for Jayant Yadav and Nathan Coulter-Nile. CSK, on the other hand, made no changes to their eleven.
A couple of hundred run stands steer CSK to mammoth total
MI, who have been struggling with taking wickets in the powerplay, managed to strike early by removing the in-form opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (4).
Moeen Ali (58) and Faf du Plessis (50) did not let the fall of a wicket deter from their aggression. The pair struck boundaries at regular intervals to keep the pressure on the defending champions.
After adding 49 runs in the powerplay, the pair kept going as the bowling changes continued.
The duo brought up their 100-run stand in the 11th over. After hitting Bumrah (1-56) for consecutive sixes and a four, the pacer struck back with the crucial wicket of Moeen Ali.
Like Ali, Faf du Plessis also registered a fifty, his fourth consecutive one in the tournament, but departed the very next over to Kieron Pollard (2-12). The all-rounder finished the over by scalping the wicket of Suresh Raina to leave CSK at 116-4 from 112-1.
With the innings evenly poised since there were two new batsmen at the crease, CSK took the game from there with the help of an exceptional knock from Ambati Rayudu (72).
The southpaw struck 7 sixes out of a total of 16 sixes for CSK. While Jadeja (22) struggled and could only chip in a run-a-ball knock out there in the middle, Rayudu’s whirlwind 27-ball outing was enough to take them to a mammoth total of 218-4 in the 20 overs.
Jasprit Bumrah marked the most expensive spell of his career while CSK slammed 82 runs in the last 5 overs, the most MI have ever conceded in that phase.
Pollard’s heroics secures a last-ball win for MI
Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock kept the run rate under check early on with a lively partnership upfront. CSK returned back into the fixture with a flurry of wickets.
With 89 required off the last 6 overs, Kieron Pollard punished the bowlers. The punishment was so severe that at one stage it seemed like that the target would be scaled easily in the end.
However, a stunning over by Sam Curran which only yielded 2 runs brought CSK back into the game. Du Plessis arguably dropped the game after spilling a simple catch of Pollard at long-on.
With 16 required off the final over, Ngidi dished a couple of dot balls and a couple of full tosses to bring the equation down to 2. Pollard, with his experience, was able to coast the defending champions home and ended unbeaten on 87 off 34 deliveries.
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