Follow UsIt was as one-sided a game as it could be, as Mumbai Indians exacted revenge for the loss in the reverse encounter by beating Chennai Super Kings by a margin of nine wickets. After CSK batters failed to capitalise early on, dew came over to support MI, with two legendary batters, Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, making short work of the 176-run chase.
After Ryan Rickelton became a casualty to Ravindra Jadeja, Mumbai made a tactical decision to send Suryakumar, considered one of the best to bat against spin bowling, to the No.3 position. From there on, it was a one-way street as SKY and Rohit made CSK spinners pay for their lack of ambiguity.
“It was brilliant upfront. Rohit took control of the powerplay. Rickelton gave a good start before getting out. Knew they were gonna bowl a lot of spin, so we took the decision to send SKY,” head coach Mahela Jayawardene said in the post-match press conference.
“And when SKY got into that groove, RO probably took the back seat, which was great. We wanted that partnership to build and get to that situation. So, that's what experience does. These two guys know each other pretty well and handled that situation really well,” he said.
After a slew of sub-par knocks, Rohit finally arrived in style and scored a 45-ball 76 in the CSK clash. Jayawardene was absolutely delighted to see Rohit’s knock and praised the former skipper for the kind of impact he has made for the side.
“I think for a guy with that kind of experience, you literally leave them be and have those positive conversations. Polly and I had conversations with him and he was quite okay about everything.
“He knew what he needed to do. He worked on his timing and got through the first 3-4 overs. He had a couple of shots which probably mistimed a little bit, but that's how the game goes. Once he comes off that, we know that he's going to change the game & the momentum.
“The intent was there from Day one, even though he was failing. So, it was good for us that he was trying to play for the team. He's been playing this tempo for a while and he understands himself,” MJ finished.