Mumbai. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated Mumbai Indians (MI) by 103 runs and handed them their biggest defeat in IPL history. In this match played at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday (23 April), Chennai completely defeated Mumbai in every department. India’s T20 World Cup winning star Sanju Samson made a brilliant comeback and scored an unbeaten 101 runs. This was his fifth century of IPL career and second century in four innings for Chennai. His innings of 54 balls included 10 fours and 6 sixes.
Batting first, Chennai Super Kings scored a strong score of 207/6 in 20 overs. Samson held one end, while wickets kept falling at the other end. Rituraj Gaikwad (22) and Dewald Brewis (21) made important contributions. For Mumbai, Ashwini Kumar and Allah Ghazanfar took two wickets each, while Jasprit Bumrah bowled economically and recorded figures of 1/31.
Mumbai Indians had a very bad start in the chase and the team kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Ultimately the entire team was reduced to 104 runs in 19 overs. For Mumbai, only Tilak Verma (37) and Suryakumar Yadav (35) could reach double digits, but they could not save the team from defeat.
In bowling for Chennai, Akil Hussain recorded excellent figures of 4/17, which was his third match this season. Whereas Noor Ahmed supported him well by taking 2/23. The pair of both spinners completely captured Mumbai’s batting. This victory was very important for Chennai Super Kings, because the team had lost the last match against Sunrisers Hyderabad and with this match they made a strong comeback.
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya clearly blamed his team’s batting, especially the powerplay, after the crushing defeat against Chennai Super Kings. He refused to blame any kind of pitch or conditions.
Hardik said after the match that losing wickets in the initial overs proved to be the biggest setback for the team. According to him, after losing early wickets in the power play, you always fall behind in the match. We could not overcome that pressure.
On the question regarding the pitch, he clearly said that there was no change in the track and Chennai batted better on the same wicket. He admitted that the score of 207 runs was big and to achieve it the team needed a strong start, which could not be achieved.
Talking about the performance of the spinners, Hardik said that his bowlers also did well, but Sanju Samson’s innings completely changed the course of the match. He also admitted that the rest of the Chennai batsmen made the score stronger by making small contributions.
Gaikwad dedicated the victory to Mukesh Chaudhary
On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad dedicated this victory to Mukesh Chaudhary. He said that every player of the team wanted to play for him and this became a major reason for the energy of the team. Gaikwad also revealed that he and Samson had planned to bat from the beginning as the ball was not coming easily on the pitch. He said that every player of the team contributed with small innings, while Samson’s brilliant innings completely tilted the match in favor of CSK.
On the future strategy, Hardik indicated that changes in the team combination can be discussed. He said that the team has a few days before the next match and they will sit and decide what can be improved further.
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