Dubai: Talented Ruturaj Gaikwad smashed an unbeaten 88 off 58 balls before Dwayne Bravo displayed scintillating bowling to guide Chennai Super Kings to a 20-run win over Mumbai Indians in the IPL on Sunday.
After the first leg was suspended in India due to the COVID-19 pandemic in May, Gaikwad led Chennai Super Kings to 156 for six after the IPL-14 resumed in the United Arab Emirates. Batted through the innings to pick up.
The late spark was provided by Bravo (23 off 8 balls) as CSK were making a fighting total to recover from a disastrous start.
Chasing 157 on a pitch where the ball often stopped at the batsmen, MI had a poor start as they were dismissed for 37 for three in the sixth over at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Quinton de Kock (17) and debutant Anmolpreet Singh (16) were both dismissed after the starts, with pace bowler Deepak Chahar on both occasions.
Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan also returned to the dugout in quick succession and troubled Mumbai for 58 for four in the 10th over.
Saurabh Tiwary (50 not out) and stand-in captain Kieron Pollard tried to form a partnership before Josh Hazlewood was caught in front of Trinidad's big-hitting all-rounder wicket.
CSK further brightened their prospects when Krunal Pandya was run out by the Dwayne Bravo-MS Dhoni combination.
Tiwary and Adam Milne tried but could not succeed, the latter dismissed the experienced Bravo in the second ball of the 20th over.
Bravo scored 3/25 while Chahar scored 2/19 as MI posted 136 for eight.
Earlier, the 24-year-old Gaikwad added 81 runs for the fifth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (26) after the captain lost.
In the sixth over, Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored 24 runs for 4 wickets.
Gaikwad hit nine fours and three sixes, while Bravo hit three sixes as CSK scored 112 runs in the last 10.
CSK lost four wickets, including the wickets of skipper Dhoni and the team's experienced run-scorer Suresh Raina, in the power play as three top-order batsmen failed to open accounts.
The start was ominous for CSK as Trent Boult had already dismissed Faf du Plessis in the fifth ball of the over when the New Zealand pacer caught the South African legend by backward point fielder Adam Milne, who was very good. was standing. The batsman had prepared himself to play the cut shot.
One for one became two for two in the next over as Milne dismissed Moeen Ali who slapped a slightly shorter ball straight to Saurabh Tiwary over cover.
What did not help Moeen was that the ball stopped as soon as the England all-rounder went for the shot.
CSK were in for more trouble as the three-time winner lost the big wicket of Raina in the third over when the veteran left-hander, who has helped the team win so many matches in the past, was dismissed for an irresponsible shot. . When he missed one while trying to attack the Kiwi seamer.
Meanwhile, Ambati Rayudu retired hurt after suffering a blow to his body to make matters worse for the Super Kings.
If that wasn't enough, the Mumbai Indians holders heaped more misery on CSK by sending the veteran Dhoni back to the hut for a poor score.
The World Cup-winning Indian captain used his shot at the right time, but to his shock, Boult took a good catch at deep square leg, capping a forgettable powerplay for the unit from Chennai.
After that, Gaikwad and Jadeja scored invaluable runs by carefully mixing their team with overall aggression to defend against a side that is missing two of their big players in regular captain Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Hardik Pandya, whose seams -Up When the Chennai pair were rebuilding their innings, the bowling was missed.
