Chennai Super Kings come back to defeat Mumbai Indians by 20 runs in their opening match in IPL

Chennai Super Kings came back from a horrendous powerplay performance to win the opening match of the second phase of IPL against their perennial rivals Mumbai Indians by 20 runs at the Dubai International Stadium.

Chennai Super Kings came back from a horrendous powerplay performance to win the opening match of the second phase of IPL against their perennial rivals Mumbai Indians by 20 runs at the Dubai International Stadium. CSK were down in the dumps during the first quarter of the game, with the score being 24/4 at the end of six overs.

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Faf Du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni all got dismissed cheaply by the New Zealand duo of Trent Boult and Adam Milne. Ruturaj Gaikwad formed the base of the yellow brigade’s resistance to the bowling as he scored an unbeaten 88 off 58 balls which includes 9 fours and 4 sixes. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja formed an important partnership with Gaikwad to take the team out of trouble and when the former got dismissed, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo came in smashed 23 off 8 balls but got dismissed in the end. CSK ended up with a respectable score of 156/6.

The Rohit Sharma less Mumbai Indians, with their batting line-up still fancied their chances but it was not to be as no batsmen ever settled enough in the crease to create an impact. Deepak Chahar took out the opening pair of De Kock and Amolpreet Singh. Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up 3 wickets for 25 runs, dismissing Rahul Chahar, Ishan Kishan and Adam Milne along with being involved with the run out of Krunal Pandya. Josh Hazlewood picked up the dangerous wicket of Kieron Pollard. Mumbai Indians ended up being fairly ended as they ended their innings at 136/8 in 20 overs.

The man of the match has to be Ruturaj Gaikwad whose unbeaten innings saved his team and lead to an important win for them against their rivals. Ambati Rayadu will be assessed later as he had to leave the field due to an injury he suffered while he was batting.