Chennai Super Kings (CSK) once again missed the presence of their regular skipper M.S. Dhoni as the defending champions had to taste a 46-run defeat against Mumbai Indians in their return fixture at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, here on Friday.
It was the Mumbai bowlers, who came all guns blazing on a slow wicket, to wrap up the home side, who were chasing a modest 156-run target, on a paltry 109 runs. Lasith Malinga starred for the visitors with figures of 4/37, while Krunal Pandya and Hardik Pandya bagged couple of wickets each.
Chennai opener Murli Vijay was the only one to show some resistance as he managed to contribute a 35-ball 38.
Mumbai had also defeated Chennai by 37 runs in their last encounter earlier this season in Mumbai.
Chasing the target, Chennai were off to a worst-possible start as Malinga dismissed opener Shane Watson (8) before Hardik Pandya struck to send back Suresh Raina (2), reducing the yellow brigade to 22/2 in 3.1 overs.
Vijay tried his best to repair the major damages but lacked support from the other end as incoming batsman Ambati Rayudu also departed without opening his account. Krunal accounted for the wicket of the Chennai stumper.
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Chennai's middle-order also fell like a pack of cards as they lost Kedar Jadhav (6) and Dhruv Shorey (5) cheaply. Things turned ugly for the hosts when Bumrah picked Vijay in the 12th over, leaving Chennai reeling at 66/6. Suryakumar Yadav took a stunning catch of Vijay at backward point off a Bumrah delivery.
Dwayne Bravo (20 off 17) and Mitchell Santner (22 off 20) were involved in a short 33-run partnership for the seventh wicket and kept Chennai's slim hope of winning alive. However, Malinga broke the partnership as the Sri Lankan pacer's slower delivery took a leading edge off Bravo's bat and the pacer moved a couple of steps backwards to take an easy catch.
The Mumbai bowlers then rattled the lower middle-order with ease as Deepak Chahar (0), Harbhajan Singh (1) also failed to bring any relief. Malinga put the final nail in the coffin after picking Santner in the 18th over to set up a comfortable victory for Mumbai.
Earlier, some disciplined bowling by Chennai restricted Mumbai to a modest 155/4 as Rohit Sharma contributed a 48-ball 67.
Rohit and Evin Lewis (32 off 30) were involved in a 75-run partnership for the second wicket and at one stage it looked as if the visitors will amass a massive total. However, after the fall of Lewis, the Chennai bowlers bowled economically and picked up wickets at regular intervals to deny Mumbai a big total.
For Chennai, Santner was the pick of the bowlers as he impressed with figures of 2/13 from his four overs, while Deepak -- the only Chennai bowler to leak runs -- and Tahir picked a wicket each.
Deepak conceded 46 runs from his four overs.
Put into bat, Deepak came up with an early breakthrough as he packed back an in-form Quinton de Kock (15) with Mumbai at 24 runs in 2.4 overs. While trying to go for the maximum, de Kock misread Deepak's slower delivery and a top-edge off his bat went up in the air and Rayudu took the catch with ease.
Lewis and Rohit then tried to repair the damage and took their side past the 50-run mark in 6.5 overs. They then steadily propelled Mumbai near the three-digit mark before Santner dismissed Lewis, with Mumbai scorecard reading 99/2.
Tahir further jolted the visitors as he sent back incoming batsman Krunal (1) cheaply, reducing Mumbai to 101/3.
After the addition of 21 runs in the visitor's score, Santner struck again to pick up the crucial wicket of a well-settled Rohit Sharma in the 17th over. Rohit's knock contained six boundaries and three hits into the stands.
Hardik Pandya (23 unbeaten off 18) and Keiron Pollard (13 unbeaten off 12) then added 33 runs in the remaining 22 balls as Mumbai reached a fighting total.
Brief scores
Mumbai Indians -- 155/4 (Rohit Sharma 67, Evin Lewis 32; Mitchell Santner 2/13) -- beat Chennai Super Kings -- 109 all out in 17.4 overs (Murli Vijay 38, Mitchell Santner 22; Lasith Malinga 4/37) -- by 46 runs.
--IANS
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