Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians locked horns in the first match of the IPL 2021 on Sunday.
Mumbai faced a set back as Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya were rested for the day. Anmolpreet Singh, Saurabh Tiwary played instead while Kieron Pollard captained the team.
MS Dhoni opted to bat first. CSK faced trouble right from ball one as Mumbai pacers ran through the batting order of CSK.
The team found themselves at 7 for 3 with Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina going out cheaply. Ambati Rayudu forced to retire after being hit by Milne’s bouncer. However, Ruturaj Gaikwad stood tall at the other end. He began slowly but with nine fours and four sixes, he got to 88* from just 58 deliveries.
He had the support of Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo who had cameos. It was Bravo’s three sixes in the death over changed the course of the game as CSK ended at 156 for 6.
In return, Deepak Chahar removed Quinton de Kock, Anmolpreet Singh and Suryakumar Yadav within the powerplay.
Saurabh Tiwary was the only positive in the batting order as he made 50 from 40 deliveries. Certainly, that wasn’t enough but considering he didn’t have any support from other end, this is a good knock.
In the end, the team made only 136 from their 20 overs. The team stays at number four while Chennai Super Kings are at the top of the table.
