Rohit Sharma registered a half century after 16 long innings, but it came at a time when the team needed the most. His 67 runs off 48 balls along with Evin Lewis' 32 off 30 helped Mumbai Indians to post 155 runs on the board.
Before the start of the game, the skipper of Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma, termed the clash against Chennai Super Kings as the El Classico of the Indian Premier League (IPL), and one has to say, it panned out in the exact same way. Mumbai Indians upstaged the Men in Yellow for the second time in the ongoing edition of the league, which helped them to move up to the second spot in the points table.
Rohit registered a half century after 16 long innings, but it came at a time when the team needed the most. His 67 runs off 48 balls along with Evin Lewis' 32 off 30 helped Mumbai Indians to post 155 runs on the board.
In response, the hosts lost a few wickets at the start, and never really recovered. Lasith Malinga once again showed his class and picked four crucial wickets to help Mumbai Indians win by 46 runs at the Chepauk Stadium. The two teams have virtually made it to the playoffs now and the road for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders have become tougher.
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Let's look at the factors that gave Mumbai Indians this crucial win and took them to 14 points.
Mumbai Indians were put in to bat by Chennai Super Kings, and the openers Rohit and Quinton de Kock were off to a decent start. Though the latter was dismissed by Deepak Chahar in the third over, skipper Rohit continued to play with responsibility.
The visitors rode on Rohit's scintillating half-century. The knock was of great significance given that the pitch was deteriorating with every passing ball. Lewis also batted well to score 32 and the second half of Mumbai's innings was dominated by the bowlers completely.
The chase didn't start well for CSK at all with Shane Watson going back to the hut in the very first over. Spinner Krunal Pandya was introduced in the second over itself by Rohit and the turn put doubts in the batsmen's mind. The CSK batsmen could never adapt to the conditions as wickets kept on tumbling.
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At the other end, Murali Vijay, playing the first game of the season, rode his luck to score 38 runs, but frankly, he never look settled. Eventually, his wicket fell and that proved to be the final nail in the coffin for the home team. Mitchell Santner and Dwayne Bravo played a few big shots but they were also sent back soon and CSK were bundled out for 109 runs in the 18th over.
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