With the resume of the second phase of the action, we have already witnessed a great match last night between the two dangerous teams in IPL: CSK & MI.
Winning the toss, MSD, who was looking calmer than ever, chose to bat first. Well, the decision didn’t go in their favour at the beginning as the top order collapsed due to the tremendous attacks of pace bowling by the giants of Mumbai Indians. With the absence of Rohit Sharma, it was Keiron Pollard who took the responsibility as a captain for MI.
CSK had to recover from seven runs for three wickets to scoring a competitive 156/6. So, who saved the night for CSK’s batting?
The burden on young but reliable shoulders
CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad who played exceptional innings of 88 not out from 58 balls helped Chennai to recover from 24/4 to post a defendable score of 156 for 6. It is never easy for a young player with the dismissal of wickets at the other end and still fighting back to put CSK in a safe position to tackle back.
Considering the pitch, swing bowling attack from some of the best in cricket – it was never easy to get back from the falling position. Gaikwad delivered class alongside maturity in his batting- we could see those straight bats and constant leaves before building his innings carefully and cautiously. He smashed nine fours along with four sixes to build his innings beautifully.
Few other notable names which helped CSK surpass the 150 marks were Dwayne Bravo (23 of 8) and Ravindra Jadeja (26 off 33).
Sir Jadeja has played a crucial role with the bat, his role was to stay at one end so that Gaikwad was able to bat comfortably without concern of the falling wickets at the other end.
Also, Bravo’s 23 runs from his bat in just 8 deliveries came as a booster for CSK to put them in a comfortable position.
Lastly, we need to mention those last 15 runs that came from the last over – is something which Gaikwad gave his bowlers something to defend.
It is only because of the three of them that CSK was able to hope something good out of their bowlers and also allowing them to stretch as per their requirements.
The pacers show by MI
Trent Boult with a breath-taking record of striking in the first over surprises everyone yesterday. All the three pacers- Milne, Bumrah, and Boult took two wickets each.
Boult dismissing the on form Du Plessis was something that sent a shock across CSK. Followed by the shaky and unrhythmic performance by Suresh Raina which collapsed the top order.
On the other hand, Milne played with the psychology of the CSKs batters with a swinging lower bouncer which hurt Ambati Rayudu on his elbow and making him retire from his batting with an injury. Milne was also the most economic in terms of conceding runs among all three pacers from Mumbai.
Mumbai’s batting scenes
Apart from Sourabh Tiwary’s unbeaten 50, none of the Mumbai batters impacted much into the overall scores for MI. It was seen that the wickets were continuously falling at one end.
Also, the opener Quinton De Kock looked in good form at the beginning when he hit three fine boundaries before being sent back to the stands by Deepak Chahar.
The debutant Ammolpreet Singh was also looking in a good shape during his short stay at the crease until he was dismissed by Chahar.
Chennai’s super bowling
Two prominent names for bowlers from CSK yesterday’s encounter are Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo. Chahar dismissing the two openers from MI and setting up the podium for CSKs other bowlers- was something that helped CSK to gain the momentum.
Apart from that the extra-ordinary death bowling from both of them is also something very much admirable because defending a low score against a team of such calibre needs a lot more than just regular cricket- in short, it needs a lot of experience and skills.
It was an experimentation of six bowlers who came into the attack for CSK and also the pacers bowling at good lengths often came as a major challenge for the opponent batsmen.
To conclude it we can say that – CSKs heroic win and promoting up the list in the points table after the resume of IPL 21 will act as a confidence booster for the side for the upcoming days.
Also, the rise in the performance of the youngster Ruturaj Gaikwad is very much appreciable and thus hoping some more out-of-the-ordinary performance from him in the upcoming encounters.