There were more Mumbai boys in the Chennai Super Kings playing eleven than in Mumbai Indians and as many, if not more, Dhoni No 7s on the Wankhede Stadium stands as Rohit 45s. CSK did not disappoint their fans, giving MI a hiding in their first home match of the season. CSK won by seven wickets as they chased down 158 runs with 11 balls to spare on Saturday.
CSK’s left-arm spin twins Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner derailed MI batting in the middle overs while one of the three Mumbaikars in the CSK line up, Ajinkya Rahane, perhaps the least expected to unleash a torrent of shots, did the most damage with the bat.
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If one needed a case study of a once established player having his back against the wall, Rahane would fit the bill. The 34-year-old is now out of national reckoning and was picked on base price and was playing as an injury replacement. He roared like a cornered tiger by smashing 62 (27b, 7×4, 3×6) at his Ranji home to set the pace for the run chase.
Rahane brought out all the strokes from his early white-ball playbook. With a flurry of boundaries; flicks, cuts and a check straight drive that oozed class, the batter ripped apart left-arm seamer Arshad Khan, taking him for 23 runs in the fourth over that included a six and four fours off successive balls. Even after the spinners were introduced, Rahane kept up with his aggression, reaching his fifty in 19 balls.
CSK SPIN RULES
The win was set up by CSK’s spinners. It took five deliveries of Deepak Chahar bowled with full strength – he limbered through the last ball of his over after pulling his left hamstring and walked out — for MS Dhoni to realise that playing pace was inviting for the batters. CSK’s latest recruit Sisanda Magala also began in expensive fashion.
That’s when Mitchell Santner was introduced with the field still in. Seeing the ball hold on the surface, Dhoni made the call to go all out with spin. With Moeen Ali not playing due to illness, CSK only had eight overs of spin to play with. They proved to be enough against the MI batting line-up that is currently looking imposing only on paper.
Jadeja bowled an unchanged spell of 4-0-20-3. The India all-rounder worked in tandem with Santner (4-0-28-2) to set the home team back. However, three of the first five wickets spinners took had more to do with MI’s poor batting and miserable luck than the bowling.
Ishan Kishan, going well against pace, holed out on 32 (21b, 5×4) a Santner long hop. Suryakumar Yadav’s wretched luck continued as he was caught behind down the leg-side for 1. The on-field umpire didn’t spot the nick but Dhoni wasn’t going to miss taking a review. Cameron Green 12 (11b) was dismissed to Jadeja taking stunning return catch.
The tactical ploy to promote left-hander Arshad Khan also failed and from 38/1 in 4 overs, MI were down to 76/5 in 9.1. Their in-form batter Tilak Varma 22 (18b, 2×4, 1×6) was again looking promising but even he couldn’t salvage the situation, falling to lbw to Jadeja.
Some lusty blows by Tim David and Hrithik Shokeen lifted MI to 157 but it proved to be below par. Ruturaj Gaikwad (40*) and Impact substitute Ambati Rayudu (20*) took CSK home.
