Defending champions Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians by 20 runs to register their fourth win despite hitman Rohit Sharma’s blistering unbeaten century. Centurion hitman Rohit Sharma’s fight was lonely. Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit Hardik Pandya for 20 runs with three consecutive sixes in the 20th over. It was these runs that led to Mumbai’s defeat. Chennai registered their fourth win. Brilliant batting by Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dubey and penetrating bowling by Pathirana proved decisive in Chennai’s victory.
Defending champions Chennai challenged Mumbai Indians by 207 runs. The aggressive opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan got off to a stormy start as expected. Tushar Deshpande bowled the first three balls without a run. But then the pair of Rohit and Ishan increased the run rate by hitting all round. Hitman Rohit and Ishan Kishan gave Mumbai a good start by hitting an unbeaten 63 runs in the power play.
Pathirana’s Magic Over
In the eighth over, Pathirana dismissed Ishan Kishan to give the team their first success. Ishan hit 23 runs off 15 balls. He hit one six and three fours. Suryakumar Yadav, who entered the field as an impact player, was dismissed for zero. Surya was caught on the boundary trying to hit Pathirana hard. Mustafizur took a catch and sent Surya to the tent. Mumbai Indians got a big shock as Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed without opening his account of runs. Rohit’s face showed disappointment. At 70, Mumbai lost two aggressive batsmen.
Pathirana ended Tilak Verma’s aggressive innings in his second spell to claim his third wicket of the match. Shardul Thakur took a nice catch. Tilak Verma contributed 31 runs off 20 balls and formed a partnership of 60 runs with Rohit. He hit five fours. Pathirana played a vital role in the victory by taking four important wickets for 28 runs. Tushar Deshpande took one wicket for 29 runs and Mustafizur took one wicket for 55 runs.
Hitman’s 500 sixes
Rohit Sharma celebrated his first fifty of this IPL season in 30 balls. He completed his half-century by hitting Ravindra Jadeja for a fine boundary. In this innings, Rohit Sharma achieved the feat of hitting 500 sixes in T20 cricket matches. In this match, Rohit hit Jadeja for the third six and registered a new record of 500 sixes. Rohit Sharma has become the first Indian batter to achieve such a feat. Chris Gayle, popularly known as the sixes king, has hit 1056 sixes. Gayle is at the forefront of manufacturing the most sixes. Kieron Pollard (860), Andre Russell (678), Colin Munro (548) are ahead of Rohit Sharma. Rohit has hit 502 sixes in all.
Stormy batting by Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shivam Dubey
On the strength of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dubey’s stormy batting, the defending champions Chennai Super Kings scored 207 for four against Mumbai Indians in 20 overs. Dhoni brought excitement to the match by hitting three sixes in the last over.
Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya won the toss and decided to bowl first. When Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for just 5 runs in the second over, Hardik’s decision seemed correct. But when Ruth the Raja entered the field things looked different. When CSK were in a situation of 60-2, the pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dubey shifted gears and formed a partnership of 90 runs. During this innings, Ruturaj reached the milestone of 2000 runs in the IPL tournament. Shivam Dubey batted explosively. He slaughtered the bowlers by hitting all round the Wankhede. Shivam Dubey hit an unbeaten 66 off 38 balls. Dubey hit two sixes and ten fours.
Dhoni’s huge sixes
There were only 4 balls left when Mahendra Singh Dhoni came on the field. Dhoni did not disappoint his fans. Dhoni hit Hardik Pandya with two sixes in a row and left the stadium in shock. Both the sixes were huge. Hitting the third six to the legside, Dhoni washed Hardik completely. Dhoni won the match by hitting 20 runs off four balls. Dhoni’s explosive batting proved thrilling in the last over. Dhoni’s magic batting helped Chennai Super Kings score 206 for four in 20 overs.
