Chennai Super Kings registered a 8-wicket win over arch-rivals Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday to pick up their second win over the fellow five-time champions in the ongoing season of IPL.
Chennai limited Mumbai to 159/7 thanks to an Anshul Kamboj three-fer, before captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and youngster Kartik Sharma produced half-centuries to take the team over the finish line with 11 balls to spare.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya won the coin toss and opted to bat first as CSK found early joy with the falls of Will Jacks, who was sent back for a solitary run as debutant Ramakrishna Ghosh pulled off a brilliant catch off Anshul Kamboj’s over. Ryan Rickleton and Naman Dhir steadied the innings with a 58-run partnership
before the South African was scalped by Noor Ahmed for 37 off 24 runs right after the powerplay.
Ghosh’s night got better as he picked up his first wicket with the dismissal of Suryakkumar Yadav for 21 runs, before Noor doubled his kitty with the wicket of Tilak Verma for 5 runs with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad taking his catch.
Naman held fort as he went on to bring up his half-century, his second of the season, before Jamie Overton foxed him with a slower one as Sarfaraz Khan picked up a blinder. Kamboj completed his three-fer on the night with the scalps of Robin Minz and Pandya for 5 and 18 runs respectively as CSK limited MI to 159/7 in 20 overs.
CSK opened the chase with Sanju Samson and Gaikwad but the former, who had scored a ton against Mumbai at Wankhede was removed for 11 run by Jasprit Bumrah. Urvil Patel produced a quick 24 off 12 deliveries before being castled by Allah Ghazanfar, as Karthik Sharma steadied the chase alongside skipper Ruturaj with a solid stand as the duo took the hosts into triple-digits shortly after the midway point of the innings.
Gaikwad stitched up his second half-century in succession with a measured knock as Kartik kept the scoreboard ticking from his end too. The pair switched through the gears in effortless fashion to stay on top of the chase throughout the innings, not letting the scoreboard get to them.
Gaikwad remained unbeaten on 67 from 48 balls, while young Karthik too brought up his maiden fifty for CSK with a well-made 54* off 40 balls to close the game out with 8 wickets to spare.
