CHENNAI: A captain's knock (67 n.o) from Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kartik Sharma's first IPL fifty (54 n.o) helped Chennai Super Kings thrash Mumbai Indians by eight wickets at the MA Chidambaram stadium under lights here on Saturday.
It was a day when everything went right for the hosts. First, they reduced the visitors to 159/7 and then chased down the target without much fuss. All along this season, Ruturaj was waiting to play a match-winning knock and the Mumbai game served him as a perfect platform to display his prowess.
The wicket offered good bounce and carry, which enabled the batters to play the shots. The skipper along with Kartik added 98 runs in 75 balls for the third wicket that set the tone for the win.
In the chase of 160, CSK had a poor start as their star opener Sanju Samson once again failed to give a good start. He misread an outswinger from Jasprit Bumrah that had good carry and bounce and edged it to Ryan Rickelton behind the stumps. After Sanju's exit, Urvil Patel made a quick-fire 24 and exited.
Earlier, Naman Dhir, who enjoyed a slice of luck while on 19, made best use of the opportunity to make 57 off 37 balls, which in turn propelled the Mumbai Indians to post a modest 159/7.
Dhir added 58 runs with Rickelton first before putting up a 40-run stand with Suryakumar Yadav. He eventually fell after scoring his fifty whilst trying to take on Jamie Overton as Sarfaraz Khan produced a memorable bit of catching on a forgetful day of fielding for Chennai.
He brought in Ramakrishna Ghosh, who made his debut. Although the youngster was slightly expensive, he compensated for it by picking up the prized wicket of Yadav.
Ghosh bowled a short of length delivery to Yadav, who tried to go over on the off side, only to be caught in the deep.
From thereon, Overton took over as MI struggled to keep up with the run-rate. In their end, the vistors' total proved to be not enough.
Brief scores: Mumbai Indians 159/7 in 20 ovs (Naman 57; Kamboj 3/32) lost to Chennai Super Kings 160/2 in 18.1 ovs (Gaikwad 67 n.o, Kartik 54 n.o; Bumrah 1/20).