The tournament opener of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has been won by the men in yellow. MS Dhoni and his men registered an easy 5-wicket win over the men in blue owing to brilliant fifties from Faf du Plessis (58*) and Ambati Rayudu (71).
Earlier in the game, MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bowl first citing the batting strength they had. MI started off well as they amassed 51 runs in the powerplay bit they also lost crucial wickets of Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock. After their dismissal, Surya Kumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary 44 runs for the third wicket, before Yadav’s dismissal in the 11th over.
ALSO READ: Twitterati Erupted As CSK Won The IPL 2020 Opener
In the end, Mumbai Indians only managed to reach a total of 162/9 in their quota of 20 overs. For CSK, Ngidi took three wickets, Jadeja and Chahar two-wickets each while, Piyush Chawla and Curran also got one wicket each.
During the chase, CSK had a forgettable start as they lost Shane Watson in the first over of Trent Boult followed by the dismissal of Murali Vijay in the second over bowled by James Pattinson. The Chennai-based franchise was in a spot of bother when they were 6/2 after the second over but then their experienced campaigner, Du Plessis, and Rayudu took the responsibility of steadying the ship as they added as many as 115 runs for the second wicket.
WATCH – Hardik Pandya Smashed Huge Sixes Off Ravindra Jadeja
Rayudu was dismissed by Rahul Chahar in the 16th over when CSK needed 42 runs in the last fours over and soon after that, Jadeja was also dismissed on the first ball of the 18th over as the equation came down to Chennai needing 29 of 17 balls, then came Curran who played a fiery knock of 18 off 6 balls as CSK went over the line with four balls to spare.
Here are the hits and flops from the match:
Hits
Saurabh Tiwary
After the dismissal of Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock, MI needed someone to play anchor role which, Saurabh Tiwary managed to well as he somewhat steadied teh ship with Surya Kumar Yadav. He added 42 runs off 31 balls with the help of three 4s and a six.
Ambati Rayudu
Along with Faf du Plessis, Rayudu took the game away from MI as he started cautiously and when his eyes settled in, he had started tonking the bowler without taking much of a risk. He amassed 71 runs off just 48 balls with the help of six 4s and three 6s.
Sam Curran
When Chennai needing 29 of 17 balls, then came the CSK all-rounder, Curran who played a fiery knock of 18 off 6 balls as CSK went over the line with four balls to spare. However, after Jadeja’s dismissal MI was gaining the command back but Curran’s whirlwind knock turned the game completely in CSK’s favor as he received the man of the match award as well. He also scalped the huge wicket of Quinton de Kock.
Flops
Jasprit Bumrah
Whenever Jasprit Bumrah is on the cricket field he is bound to be surrounded with a lot of expectations, and more often than not he is known for fulfilling them but he failed on Tuesday. Despite picking the wickets of Sam Curran he conceded as many as 43 runs.
Rohit Sharma
MI skipper, Rohit Sharma started the IPL 2020 with a bang when he had smashed Deepak Chahar for a fourth on the very first ball of the tournament, but his joy didn’t last long as he was dismissed for a meager score of 12 in the 4th over of the match itself by Piyush Chawla.
