It was really the speed three from Chennai Super Kings, Matheesha Pathirana, Deepak Chahar, and Tushar Deshpande, who took seven wickets in total and held Mumbai Indians to 139 on a field where the ball was halting. Ruturaj Gaikwad’s quick cameo in the first four overs of the chase at Chepauk gave Super Kings little reason to fear during their six-wicket victory.
Although Nehal Wadhera and Suryakumar Yadav contributed 55 runs to help Mumbai mount a comeback, Pathirana put the brakes on in the last overs after Chahar’s twin strikes had reduced Mumbai to 14 for 3 in the third over. Mumbai could only muster 17 runs in the last three overs while losing four wickets, as Wadhera’s first T20 fifty was a lone effort.
Even though Lucknow Super Giants, who are now in third place, have a game in hand, the victory moves Super Kings up to second position in the points standings. Mumbai, though, is still in sixth place.
Gaikwad starts in a hurry, Dube finishes in style
Gaikwad had smashed 30 of the Super Kings’ 46 in the opening four overs. Alongside Devon Conway, he started the Super Kings chase with four fours and two sixes. Cameron Green scored four runs in the opening over on a drive and a flip, and he took control in the third over.
Gaikwad scored six runs in four overs against Mumbai’s left-arm seamer Arshad Khan: a pull over midwicket, a guide behind point, a punch past the bowler, and a swivel-pull over long leg. Gaikwad was out on the first ball of the fifth over by Piyush Chawla, who once more distinguished himself as Mumbai’s top bowler.
Ajinkya Rahane smashed Chawla for a four and a six. Still, in the ninth over, Chawla caught the Super Kings hitter with a googly, giving him the victory after capturing Gaikwad earlier with the legspinner. Chawla was bowled out after only 11 overs, and his four overs only yielded 25 runs.
Soon after, Shivam Dube added to the foundation Gaikwad built and gave it the last push. After losing two and having a game called off shortly before, Super Kings cruised to a comfortable victory because of two sixes from left-arm wrist-spinner Raghav Goyal in the 14th over and one swing from Arshad Khan to Mumbai’s dugout two balls before the final run.