Vintage Rahane Resurrects, Dominates Mumbai Indians
- Stump Talk
- April 8, 2023
- IPL, IPL2023
- Chennai Super Kings, Mumbai Indians, TATA IPL 2023
- 0 Comments
Chennai Super Kings 159 for 3 (Rahane 61, Gaikwad 40*, Kartikeya 1-24) beat Mumbai Indians 157 for 8 (Kishan 32, Jadeja 3-20, Santner 2-28, Deshpande 2-31) by seven wickets.
Chennai Super Kings lost their premier seamer Deepak Chahar to injury after he had bowled just one over. They were already without the match-winner from their last game, Moeen Ali (illness), and Ben Stokes (injured), but Ravindra Jadeja and Mitchell Santner combined to carve up Mumbai Indians’ middle order on a Wankhede pitch that offered some grip and turn.
Rahane slots into Uthappa’s role and dominates the match with a batting masterclass. The Mumbai boy hit a 19-ball half-century to set up their chase. His 27-ball 61 on Super Kings debut allowed Ruturaj Gaikwad and the rest of the batters breathing room after Devon Conway’s duck.
Mumbai’s attack lacked experience, and Rohit looked exhausted throughout the fielding hours. Archer sat out of this game as a precautionary measure. Like Magala, a death-bowling specialist from South Africa, the other bowlers came in early in the powerplay, also stepping in for Chahar.
In Super Kings’ previous game at Chepauk against Lucknow Super Giants, Jadeja bowled just one over as MS Dhoni kept him away from first Kyle Mayers and then Nicholas Pooran. On Saturday, Dhoni brought Jadeja into the attack immediately after the powerplay, and the allrounder responded by having Kishan hole out for 32 off 21 balls.
Jadeja kept bowling into the Wankhede pitch and got Tilak Varma’s (22) and Cameron Green’s (12) wickets.
Rahane’s monstrous boundary-hitting spree in the powerplay was a welcome site for CSK. He crashed Arshad for 6, 4, 4, 4, 4 in the fourth over, and by the end of the powerplay, he had zoomed to his half-century, setting Super Kings up for a net-run-rate-boosting victory.
Mumbai brought in left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya as their Impact Player. Still, Super Kings messed with their plans by promoting their spin-hitter Shivam Dube to No. 4. Kartikeya eventually bowled Dube for 28 off 26 balls, but the game was up by then. Rayudu replaced Chahar as Super Kings’ Impact Player, and Gaikwad completed the formalities with seven wickets and almost two overs to spare.
Super Kings notched up their second successive victory and will be bolstered further by the arrival of Mahesh Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana ahead of their home game against Rajasthan Royals on April 12. On the other hand, Mumbai slipped to their second successive loss and is still searching for their first points this season.
