Chennai Super Kings produced a brilliant bowling and fielding performance to restrict the Mumbai Indians to a meagre total of 139 for eight before reaching their target with ease to win by six wickets with 14 balls to spare in their IPL match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
Devon Conway’s prolific form for Chennai continued as he anchored the run chase with 44 from 42 balls before being trapped lbw with just 10 runs required.
Opening partner Ruturaj Gaikwad removed any early nerves with a pulsating 30 from 16 balls (4x4, 2x6) and Ajinkya Rahane maintained the tempo with a brisk 21. Both men were dismissed by veteran legspinner Piyush Chawla (2-25) but it was too little, too late.
There was also a consolation wicket for Tristan Stubbs (2-0-14-1) who was hit for six by Ambati Rayudu the ball before persuading him to slice to short third.
Earlier, Nehal Wadhera top-scored for Mumbai with 64 (8x4, 1x6) but it came off a pedestrian 51 deliveries while Stubbs limped to an awkward 20 from 21 balls with just two fours before holing out to long off in the final over against Sri Lankan round-arm slinger Matheesha Pathirana, who finished with 3-15 from his four overs.
Mumbai made a disastrous start, slumping to 14 for three inside the third over with Cameron Green (6) bowled by seamer Tushar Deshpande (2-26) before fellow opener Ishan Kishan (7) played a dirty slog against a Deepak Chahar slower ball.
Captain Rohit Sharma (0) dropped to No 3 in a quest for some meaningful form but his paddle-sweep against Chahar (2-18) ended up in the hands of Ravindra Jadeja at short third.
Suryakumar Yadav struggled to get going with 26 runs from 22 balls before Jadeja bowled him and Wadhera’s vigil was ended by a perfect yorker from Pathirana, who was outstanding at the death.
Chennai move to second place on the log with 13 points, just one behind leaders Gujarat Titans, while Mumbai remain in sixth place with 10 points.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (captain & wkt), Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana.
MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ishan Kishan (wkt), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Arshad Khan