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Chennai Super Kings narrowed their head-to-head record against Mumbai Indians to 11-12 with a stunning one-wicket win over their arch rivals in the IPL 2018 opener. Chasing 166, the visitors scampered home with a ball to spare and had Dwayne Bravo to thank for playing an IPL classic, when all hope looked lost.
Did the 23rd meeting between MI-CSK live up to all the hype?
Yes.
How so?
Dwayne Bravo and Kedar Jadhav. The former scored 68 from 30 deliveries and was dismissed with seven runs to get off the final over. Kedar Jadhav, who had retired hurt with a hamstring injury, hobbled back in to face Mustafizur Rahman. After playing three dots, he walked across and paddled a six over fine leg before crunching a four past covers to finish off one of the most incredible season openers. CSK were back.
How did we get here?
At the 15th over of the game, the Super Kings were 106 for 7 chasing 166, with the result all but a foregone conclusion. The popular belief was that while Bravo remained a gun bowler, as he displayed at the death in Mumbai's innings, his powers with the bat had waned. Almost as if to dispel those beliefs, he hit Jasprit Bumrah over extra cover for a six with his trademark Caribbean flourish. But even then Bumrah came back well and Hardik Pandya finished his spell with the wicket of Mark Wood to finish with figures of 4 for 23. 47 were required off the final three with Bumrah and Mustafizur locked in to bowl the final two. All it needed was for Mitchell McClenaghan to bowl an over that would rubber-stamp the victory.
As it turned out, Tahir scampered for a single and Bravo smoked two sixes and a four to milk 20 off the New Zealand pacer. Mumbai were shaken but still in control. Bumrah had gone at less than a run-a-ball in his first three overs. But when Bravo lifted him over long off to get to a 25-ball half-century, the pressure was duly on. Bumrah moved away from his natural angle to go around the wicket but only ended up bowling a low full toss that disappeared over the ropes. Bumrah got a yorker to hit the base of the stumps but the contact wasn't enough to dislodge the bails and Bravo replied with his seventh six of the night. With the equation down to 7 from 7, Bravo opted for a glory shot and got out. Thankfully for CSK, Jadhav was on hand to cap off a memorable comeback.
If it was a comeback win, then Mumbai must have had their moments...
Certainly. Ishan Kishan (40 off 29) and Suryakumar Yadav (43 off 29) put on 78 for the third wicket off just 52 deliveries after the hosts were put into bat on a what Sunil Gavaskar termed an 'unusual Wankhede wicket' with some green patches and seam movement on offer. That partnership was augmented by a lower-order blitz from Krunal Pandya, allowing the defending champions to post a competitive, yet ultimately under par total of 165.
With the ball, it was young Mayank Markande, a left-field pick of whom his captain had heard good things about before the game. The 20-year-old Punjab legspinner was brought on to the attack immediately after the powerplay and quickly picked up a free-flowing Ambati Rayudu (22) and followed that up with the wickets of MS Dhoni and Deepak Chahar to finish with dream debut figures of 3 for 23. The dismissals of Rayudu and Dhoni, both LBW to googlies, will have grabbed the attention of the IPL verse.
Does CSK's win mask any flat performances?
Weirdly enough, unlike Markande, CSK didn't find any success with spin. Only five overs were bowled between Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja for 46 runs and a solitary wicket. Not only were CSK's spinners ineffective, they were guilty of bowling pressure-release overs. Ravindra Jadeja bowled ultra defensively and was taken for two fours and taken out of the attack. Tahir went for 18 in his first as the left-handed Kishan was ideally placed to bottom hand the tossed-up deliveries towards long-on and long-off. Tahir eventually came back for another over when he had his man top-edge a wild slog.
Mysteriously, despite conceding only one boundary and 14 runs from his two overs, Harbhajan was not called on to complete his overs even when Mark Wood, one of the designated death bowlers, conceded 49 from his 4 overs.
It was not all doom and gloom with the ball for CSK. Watson (2 for 29), Deepak Chahar (1 for 14) and Dwayne Bravo (0 for 25) were good at either end of the innings.
Other salient features of the game...
DRS made its IPL debut. Evin Lewis became the first cricketer to be offered technological aid after being adjudged LBW to Chahar. While he didn't cost Mumbai their only review, umpire's call meant Mumbai's big-name acquisition had a blob to his name on his IPL debut.
Any injury concerns?
One for each team. Hardik Pandya appeared to have sustained an ankle injury while batting. He had to be carried off the ground by his teammates at the end of the innings but returned soon enough to bowl his full quota of overs. He did spend the last two overs of the match observing from the dugout.
Jadhav picked up what looks like a suspected hamstring tear and faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Where do the teams go from here?
Chennai will return home for their much-romanticised first home game since 2015. That game against Kolkata Knight Riders on April 10 should make for quite a spectacle if CSK's practice games from last week were anything to go by.
Mumbai will travel to Hyderabad, where they won their third IPL title last May, to take on the Sunrisers on April 12.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 165/4 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 43, Krunal Pandya 41 ; Shane Watson 2-29) lost to Chennai Super Kings 169/9 in 19.5 overs (Dwayne Bravo 68, Kedar Jadhav 24 ; Mayank Markande 3-23, Hardik Pandya 3-24) by 1 wicket.
(CRICBUZZ)
