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Mumbai: Chennai Super Kings got their IPL 7 campaign back on track following a defeat to Kings XI Punjab a couple night ago, beating hosts Mumbai Indians by four wickets at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
Though CSK suffered a few scares with Praveen Kumar and Lasith Malinga bowling intelligently and CM Gautam 'keeping sharply, they recovered first through Dwayne Smith and later thanks to MS Dhoni who kept his cool to finish the job in the last over.
Smith started well by taking 12 runs off Praveen's opening over, but then slipped several gears and went 23 balls without a boundary. During this barren run, Praveen - playing his first match of the season for a new team after being called up as a replacement - was rewarded for a stump-to-stump line when McCullum (13) was adjudged lbw even though replays showed the ball missing leg.
Smith struggled against Praveen's movement and Harbhajan Singh's variations in pace, but managed to keep himself going with a big over off Pollard. Just when it appeared Smith had sorted himself out against Harbhajan, who was smacked for six over midwicket, Praveen came back into the attack and had the batsman caught in the deep for a 51-ball 57.
Malinga also returned after Praveen's strike and uncorked two pearlers to give CSK a fright. A superb slow yorker went straight through Faf du Plessis (31 of 24 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja dragged onto his stumps. In the same over Gautam effected a run out to get rid of Mithun Manhas for one, but Dhoni wrapped up victory with three balls to spare, slogging Pollard over cow corner for six and punching four past the covers.
All this cancelled out a bullish yet plucky fifty from Ambati Rayudu, his first significant contribution of the season, that had played a big role in MI posting 157 for 6. Entering after Samuel Badree, in his first game, deceived Gautam (8) in flight, Rayudu partnered Lendl Simmons in a partnership of 61.
Dropped on five when Badree's miscalculated jump at third man parried the ball over the ropes for six and 17 when Manhas who settled under a lofted drive out to deep cover but allowed the ball to pop out of his palms, Rayudu found his touch with some meaty drives and cuts.
Simmons, on IPL debut in place of Ben Dunk, appeared torn between attack and defence. His run-a-ball 38 included 21 dots and three fours and two sixes, meaning that roughly 63% of his runs came in five balls. Attempting to break free, Simmons picked out long-on off R Ashwin in the 12th over.
From here, the innings lost steam as Rayudu and Rohit Sharma found the boundary just twice in the next five overs before MI lost three wickets in the space of five deliveries. Two owed to smart catches from Raina in the deep, accounting for a lethargic Rohit 19 run a ball and Pollard first ball, but a couple thundering sixes to Corey Anderson off Ishwar Pandey in the 20th over lifted the total past 150. In the end, it just wasn't enough.
Earlier, CSK have won the toss and have opted to field first.
Samuel Badree replaces Ben Hilfenhaus for Chennai. Mumbai, meanwhile, have made two changes -- Lendl Simmons is in for Ben Dunk, and Praveen Kumar comes in for Pawan Suyal.
Teams
Mumbai: Lendl Simmons, Chidhambaram Gautam (wk), Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma (Capt.), Corey Anderson, Kieron Pollard, Aditya Tare, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Lasith Malinga, Jasprit Bumrah
Chennai: Dwayne Smith, Brendon McCullum, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (Capt. & wk), Faf du Plessis, Ravindra Jadeja, Mithun Manhas, Ravichandran Ashwin, Samuel Badree, Ishwar Pandey, Mohit Sharma
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians - 157/6 (Rayudu 59, Simmons 38, Ashwin 3-30)
Chennai Super Kings - 160/6 (Smith 57, du Plessis 31)
Result - Chennai Super Kings won by 4 wickets
Points - Chennai Super Kings 2Mumbai Indians 0
