Ahmad leads CSK to victory over Mumbai Indians

rugby23 March 2025 18:07| © MWP
By:Neil Manthorp
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Afghan left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad, claimed magnificent figures of 4-0-18-4 to help restrict the Mumbai Indians to a modest 155-9 before Rachin Ravindra (65*) and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (53) catapulted the Chennai Super Kings to a thumping five-wicket victory in their TATA IPL match at the MC Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday night.

Black Caps tyro Ravindra pulled the first ball of the final over from countryman Mitchell Santner for six to win the game with five balls to spare and finish on 65 from 45 balls with two fours and four sixes while veteran Gaikwad recorded his fastest IPL 50 with 53 from just 26 balls containing six fours and three sixes.

MI’s 24-year-old debutant left-arm wrist-spinner, Vignesh Puthur, briefly made things interesting with 3-32 in his four overs but MI were at least 25 runs short of a competitive total and that proved fatal.  

CSK’s left-arm seamer Khaleel Ahmed (3-29) shared seven wickets with Noor, including two in his first two overs with Rohit Sharma (0) flicking an inswinger to midwicket and Ryan Rickelton (13) chopping on to his stumps after belting three fours from just seven balls.

Ravichandran Ashwin’s carrom ball had Will Jacks (11) caught at mid off before Noor’s work began courtesy of a typically dazzling stumping by 43-year-old MS Dhoni who whipped the bails off before Suyakumar Yadav (29) had even completed his offside drive.

His next three wickets were caught at long off, lbw and bowled as the MI middle order failed miserably to cope with his intoxicating variations.

When Khaleel had number 10 Trent Boult caught at mid off the innings slumped to 141-9 before Deepak Chahar (28* from 15 balls) smashed a pair of fours and sixes to give MI some, faint hope.

 But it was not to be.

MUMBAI INDIANS: Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton (wk), Will Jacks, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Trent Boult, Satyanarayana Raju

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad (capt), Deepak Hooda, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, MS Dhoni (wk), R Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Nathan Ellis, Khaleel Ahmed