Picture : IPL / X
Chennai Super Kings held their nerves as they battled hard to beat the Mumbai Indians by 4 wickets in a much awaited Tata IPL 2025 heavyweight clash in Chennai .
Earlier , Chennai Super Kings Skipper Rituraj Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bowl first. And his bowlers did not disappoint as they struck at regular intervals to peg Mumbai Indians back .
Mumbai Indians got off to a horror start with Rohit Sharma out for 0. Fellow opener Ryan Rickelton out for ( 13) , Will Jacks ( 11) . MI reeling 37/ 3 in 4. 4 overs.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav looked good but was out to a swift stumping by MSD for 29 off Noor Ahmed. Tilak Varma ( 31) , Robin MInz ( 3). MI were collapsing like pack of cards. Mitchell Santner ( 11) , Naman Dhir ( 17) .
MI managed to reach a fighting 155/ 9 thanks to important cameo by Deepak Chahar who remained unbeaten with 28 ( 15 balls, 2 fours, 2 sixes) , Trent Boult ( 1) and Satyanarayana Raju not out ( 1),
CSK were sharp on the field and with the ball. Khaleel Ahmed was brilliant at the top with 3/ 29 ( 4 overs), Noor Ahmed outstanding 4/ 18 ( 4 overs) , Ravindra Jadeja 0/ 21 ( 3 overs) , Ravichandran Ashwin 1/ 31 ( 4 overs) , Nathan Ellis 1/ 38 ( 4 overs) , Sam Curran 0/ 13 ( 1 over)
In reply CSK, Lost opener Rahul Tripathi early on for just 2 . Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad leading from the front hit a crucial 53 ( 26 balls, 6 fours, 3 sixes) , Shivam Dube was out for 9 , Deepak Hooda holed out in the deep for 3 . Sam Curran , guilty of shot selection was out for 4. CSK were just losing wickets tooo many
As wickets fell around him , CSK opener Kiwi, Rachin Ravindra stood firm holding one end. Ravindra has been a revelation in the International arena too for New Zealand. Cleary one of the most talented players around now in world cricket. And he showed that talent yet again with a match- winning innings an unbeaten 65 ( 45 balls , 2 fours, 4 sixes) . Ravindra Jadeja was run-out for 17. Setting the stage for MSD to come to crease with 4 runs needed to win much to the delight and roar of the huge crowd . MSD remained not out 0
But it was Rachin Ravindra who finished the match with a six . CSK 158/ 6 in 19. 1 overs and winning by 4 wickets .
MI would have in the hunt had they got around 170- 180 . Regular wickets hurt their cause. Something they need to address quickly ahead. Moreover, Mumbai Indians incidentally are yet to win their first match in IPL since 2012.
Mumbai Indians bowling : Trent Boult 0/ 27 ( 3 overs) , Deepak Chahar 1/ 18 ( 2 over) , Satyanarayana Raju 0/ 13 ( 1 over), Mitchell Santner 0/ 24 ( 2.1 overs) , Will Jacks 1/ 32 ( 4 overs) , young Vignesh Puthur was impressive 3/ 32 ( 4 overs) , Naman Dhir 0/ 12 ( 3 overs)
Match: IPL 2025, 3rd Match
Venue: Chennai | Date: March 23, 2025
