Chennai Super Kings 156 for 7 (Rayudu 40, Dhoni 28*, Sams 4-30) beat Mumbai Indians 155 for 7 (Varma 51*, Suryakumar 32, Choudhary 3-19, Bravo 2-36) by three wickets
Butter-fingered Chennai Super Kings dropped at least four catches, including two by their captain Ravindra Jadeja, and MS Dhoni fluffed a stumping chance, but Dhoni produced a vintage display with the bat to hand Mumbai Indians their seventh defeat in as many games this IPL.
With Super Kings needing 16 off the last four balls, Dhoni went 6,4,2,4 and aced his match-up against Jaydev Unadkat once again.
It was Dwaine Pretorius, picked in place of Chris Jordan, who set the scene for Dhoni’s trademark finish by clattering 22 off 14 balls, 12 of which were scored off Jasprit Bumrah, who left Unadkat with 16 to defend off the final over.
Unadkat started well by pinning Pretorius in front with an on-pace yorker, but Dwayne Bravo pinched a single next ball to put Dhoni back on strike. From thereon, only one result was possible and that was Dhoni tearing into Unadkat and winning it off the last ball for Super Kings.
Super Kings’ left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary had played a key role for Super Kings in the early exchanges by dismissing both Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan for ducks. Choudhary then had Dewald Brevis nicking off for 4 and he could’ve had Tilak Varma for 2 off his next ball to make it four strikes in the powerplay had Bravo clung onto a chest-high catch at slip.
Varma pressed on to make an unbeaten 51 off 43 balls and a late cameo from Unadkat (19 off nine balls) hauled Mumbai to 155 for 7 on a grippy DY Patil track. It allowed Mumbai to apply pressure on Super Kings at various points during their spirited defence, but it was not enough for them to break their duck.
Full report to follow…
Source: ESPN Crickinfo
