When put into bat on run chase favoured venue with dew factor, a well-known issue at Wankhede Stadium, 5 times Champions Chennai Super Kings got into an issue of not having enough runs on the board in the power play overs and that has cost them to languish at the bottom of the table throughout this the 18th edition of the IPL.
The target of 177 chasing for Mumbai Indians who recorded 2 wins on the trot at this venue looked a walk in the park with the likes of a run hungry Rohit Sharma, a run machine Suryakumar Yadav and also Tilak Varma known for his brilliance in the middle pack. Ryan Rickleton, who opens the batting with Rohit, is a batter who will bat with responsibility taking into consideration that Rohit has not hit a purple patch and his highest score so far 26.
Yesterday, it was a late night movie with Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav. Suriyakumar is batting at number one now, orchestrated by coach Mahela Jayawardena, a great reader of not only the game but an analysis of batter potential.
Rickleton was out for 24 after he built a partnership with Rohit Sharma for
63 for the first wicket.
Rohit Sharma indicated his comeback during his cameo together with Rickleton, Jadeja succeeded in getting Rickleton out, but little did CSK realise that this was their last celebration for the night.
An unbroken partnership of 114 runs between Suryakuma Yadav and Rohit Sharma lit up the night skies of Mumbai as Rohit remained unbeaten on 70 with a strike rate of 166.83 with 4 boundaries and 6 massive sixes whilst Suryakumar Yadav made an unbeaten 68 with a strike rate of 226.87 with 6 boundaries and 5 sixes.
Mumbai Indians reached the target in 15.3 overs, giving their overall run rate a massive boost.
Noor Ahmad with Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were swept by Suryakumar Yadav with the ball coming onto the bat with the aid of the dew factor.
Noor Ahmed wicket less for 36 in 3 overs , Ravichandran Ashwin was treated with great respect wicket less for 25 in 4 overs and Jadeja the only scalp recorded in his 3 overs spell for 28 runs.
The seamers will not want to look at their bowling figures in the score book.
Matheesha Pathirana stuck by tsunami waves conceding 34 runs in 1.4 overs , whilst Jamie Overton wicketless for 29 in 2 overs and Khaleel Ahmed nothing in the wickets column for 24 in his 2 over spell.
Chennai Super Kings must look into a few negatives in their approach. Their batters are too conservative in the power play overs. Rachin Ravindra opened the doors way too early, trying to square drive a debutant seam bowler in the very first ball he faced off the youngster, only succeeding in edging it to Rickleton with 5 runs to his credit. The new kid, Aswan Kumar, after his first ball success, got cartered for 42 runs in his 2 over spell.
What was Rachin Ravindra’s mind set? We also saw a new kid on the blocks for the yellow shirts, Ayush Mithra, who made 32 in 16 deliveries in the power plays great potential, no doubt. This leaves a question: Is Chennai Kings carrying extra baggage with too many seniors in their squad?
It is great to see Jadeja bat up the order and be unbeaten on 53 and Shivem Dube spending a few valuable times at the wickets for his 30 ball 50 which helped Dhoni and his team to 176 for 5 wickets in their alloted 20 overs.
Pick of the bowlers Mitch Santner 3 overs 14 runs for one wicket and scalp of the match Sheikh Rashid stumped by Rickleton bowled by Mitchell Santner, a well disguised above the batters eye line delivery beaten in the air.
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