BENGALURU: Storied rivalries between two teams demand plotlines. Within the context of Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, one of the big subplots was provided by the duo of MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, the Indian Premier League's two greatest captains. They have split 10 of 18 IPLs.
At the Wankhede on Thursday, another page was quietly turned. It marked the first game between the two sides without both Sharma and Dhoni. For so long, these two were the public faces of the league's two most successful teams.
In 2026, though, both these teams have been fighting for relevance in the face of stiff competition from elsewhere. Coming into the match, the hosts were in seventh while the visitors found themselves in eighth.
On paper, this contest promised not only fireworks but a clash involving half-a-dozen of India's World Cup-winning stars. Of the XI that featured in the final against New Zealand in Ahmedabad in March, six (two from Chennai and four from Mumbai) were going to be on show.
The first act of the match, then, was always going to be written by one of those six. Sanju Samson. Even a few years ago, he was failing to marry talent with consistency. Starts were frequently frittered and a sequence of below-par scores were pardoned because his ceiling was very high.
Over the last few months, though, his floor has risen. Riding on a wave of confidence, he scored his second century of the season to lift Chennai to a total of over 200 after being asked to bat first. He literally pulled the final ball of the innings to the fence to reach three figures. Chennai's trades and decisions post a disappointing 2025 is still under the microscope but they have undoubtedly got the better end of the deal with respect to Samson's trade from Rajasthan for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.
Against Mumbai, the keeper-batter showed his full class. Deft touches behind square on the off side or unfurling the big hits in front of square on the on side. One shot — an inside out loft over cover for six — off the third last over of the innings was one of the shots of the season so far. It's what has defined Samson's sui generis batting in this format for a very long time. He uses his power to muscle the ball but he also has the touch play to go with it. A rare marriage in an era where openers generally rely only on power-hitting. His century meant CSK posted 207/6. West Indian Akeal Hosein then claimed 4/17 while Noor Ahmad from Afghanistan picked 2/23 as Mumbai were folded out for 104. The 103-run loss was Mumbai Indians' biggest in terms of runs in the IPL history.
From a broader perspective, Samson has very quickly become a fan favourite for the Yellow Army. Continue in this vein and 'Samson' will replace 'Dhoni' on the back of the fans' jerseys going forward.
Brief scores: CSK 207/6 in 20 ovs (Samson 101 n.o; Ghazanfar 2/25) bt MI 104 in 19 ovs (Hosein 4/17, Noor 2/23).