Press Trust of India
Chennai, May 8: Four IPL matches old Hardik Pandya upstaged all as he smashed the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) bowlers to all parts of the MA Chidambaram Stadium here Friday to script a thrilling six-wicket victory for Mumbai Indians (MI). This was Chennai’s first loss at their home venue after April 2013 when they had gone down to the now-defunct Pune Warriors.
Chasing 159 for victory Pandya (21 n o, 8b, 1×4, 3×6) came to the party with 30 needed from the last two overs. Dwayne Bravo had bowled a brilliant 18th over conceding just four runs and picking up the wicket of MI skipper Rohit Sharma (18, 22b), caught at long-on by Suresh Raina. But then Pandya in tandem with Amabati Rayudu (34 n o, 1×4, 3×6) changed all that with some audacious hitting.
Pawan Negi coming into bowl the 19th over of the innings went for 25 – three sixes by Pandya and one by Rayudu. It was clean, clinical hitting with all the sixes coming in that arc between long-off and long-on. And all the shots cleared the fence with ease. The match was as good as over.
It could have been a bit more tight had Ravindra Jadeja picked up Pandya’s catch on the first ball of the last over of the match. But he dropped a sitter running back at mid-wicket and Pandya promptly finished off the game top edging Bravo (1/16) over the slips for a boundary.
MI however, would also be indebted to Parthiv Patel (45, 32b, 6×4) and Lendl Simmons (38, 31b, 3×4, 2×6) for their win. The two openers put on 84 runs in 61 balls to give their side a good start, but then both perished to Ravi Ashwin (2/17) in the 11th over of the innings.
Earlier after electing to bat, CSK scored 158 for the loss of four wickets riding on entertaining knocks from skipper MS Dhoni (39, 32b, 2×4, 2×6) and Negi (36, 17b, 4×4, 1×6). The two put on 53 runs in the last four overs to take the hosts past the 150-run mark. But still then they were 15-20 runs short on a pitch that afforded a bit of turn to spinners of both the sides.
Quite a few other MI batters – Brendon McCullum (23, 11b, 3×4, 1×6), Dwayne Smith (27, 34b, 4×4) and Faf du Plessis (17, 16b, 1×6) got starts – but failed to convert their knocks into substantial ones. And CSK had to pay with their first loss at the venue in more than two years.
Brief scores: CSK 158 for 5 (MS Dhoni 39, Pawan Negi 32) lost to MI 159 for 4 in 19.2 overs (Parthiv Patel 45, Ambati Rayudu 34 n o, Hardik Pandya 21 n o, Ravi Ashwin 2/17) by six wickets.
