MATCH REPORT
Follow Us“After winning this kind of game, you've got to be pumped for the rest of the night”, Hardik Pandya
“Probably one of the best T20 games that I've been part of”, Rohit Sharma
Well, it was that sort of a game. On a small ground with an excellent batting pitch, the power-hitting was at its brutal best. Bowlers had nowhere to hide, even on the few occasions when they pitched the ball in the right areas. Jasprit Bumrah leaking 56 runs in four overs, his most expensive spell in his IPL history, says a lot about the conditions.
On the back of Faf du Plessis’ 50 off 28 balls, Moeen Ali’s 56 off 36 and Ambati Rayudu’s 72* off 27 balls, Chennai Super Kings smashed their highest total against Mumbai Indians. But, in the end, it was Kieron Pollard’s mighty 87* from 34 balls which superseded all batting efforts to take Mumbai to their first successful 200-plus run chase and the second highest run chase in IPL history.
Pollard came to out to bat at a time when Chennai had their foot in door. MS Dhoni was laying his impact as a captain which brought three wickets in three overs. The required run-rate was already touching 14 and when Pollard belted one past Ravindra Jadeja’s head, he found a fielder positioned straight behind the bowler to stop the boundary.
With his most preferred area blocked to hit down the ground, Pollard went for the aerial route. He deposited Jadeja for three sixes in that over - 13th of the innings.
“They have four overs of spin on a small ground and I looked to hit some sixes against spin. I had to maximise that over from Jadeja”, revealed the Trinidadian.
He struck him over long-off, then a wide delivery over covers and then one in line with the stumps over long-on. The range he covered in those three sixes was a sign of things to come.
Chennai tried many things against Pollard but nothing with conviction. The distance of Pollard’s sixes - 103 and 97 metres on two of his eight maximums demoralized or terrorized the bowlers further. They tried bowling wide of the crease, short-length deliveries, slower balls but there was no respite.
Pollard also picked two for 12 with the ball, which is easy to forget after his pristine six-hitting.
The final overs
Such was the deficit when Pollard arrived to the crease, that Chennai were in the game throughout. A stunning 17th over from Sam Curran - two runs and a wicket - kept their hopes up. But there was no support from the other end. Shardul Thakur conceded 17 in the 18th over. It also consisted an improbable event - Faf du Plessis dropping a catch, a sitter by his standards. It was the only opportunity Pollard provided, batting at 68 at the moment.
The drop proved to be critical when Pollard single-handedly razed off the 16 runs required in the last over. There were yorkers, miscued full tosses but when it got down to 8 off the last two balls, Pollard hammered a full toss from Lungi Ngidi for a six and then sprinted across for two to fetch two points for Mumbai.
Moeen, Faf taking the charge
After Ruturaj Gaikwad’s early departure to his vulnerability against left-arm pace, du Plessis and Moeen Ali kept Chennai on track for a big score.
Moeen batted in his free flowing style, carting balls anywhere near his arc to the boundary line. Mumbai had a new look bowling attack with James Neesham and Dhawal Kulkarni playing their first game of the season and both the batsmen took toll of the first-game jitters.
By the end of the Powerplay, Chennai had 49 runs on the board. Over the next few overs, the duo unleashed themselves, piling up 63 runs in the next 28 balls. Neesham went for 26 runs from two overs and Rahul Chahar was taken for 20 runs in his two-over spell. They put on 108 off 61 balls, before Bumrah broke the stand.
Neesham was not asked to bowl again which made Rohit Sharma look to Kieron Pollard to fill in two overs, which was enough for the Trinidadian to cause his effect. He picked two wickets for 12 runs, both owing to the misjudgement of the batsmen. Du Plessis chose the wrong option of going for a scoop shot against the pace-less delivery of Pollard and was holed out at fine-leg. Next ball, Suresh Raina went for an aerial shot, only to be caught by Krunal Pandya at long-on.
The quick succession of wickets put Chennai in a jeopardy. For Mumbai, it was a chance to turn things around. For Rayudu, it was an opportunity.
Rayudu ruling the roost
Rayudu took the Mumbai bowlers by surprise. 37 runs were scored in four overs post Raina’s dismissal, with three sixes and one four. All these boundaries came from Rayudu’s bat.
Anything with the slightest of margin of error at Rayudu travelled the distance. Rahul Chahar was the first to face the wrath of Rayudu’s storm when he pitched a ball marginally short and the 35-year old went as deep as possible inside his crease to churn out a six. At the death, he tormented Bumrah and Trent Boult. He made room to strike a couple of sixes over covers, he pulled the bowlers into submission and even went over their head.
Jadeja contributed only 22 off 22 balls in a 102-run stand (56 balls) which speaks about Rayudu’s dominance.
The brief MS Dhoni captaincy masterclass
Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock gave Mumbai the perfect start with a 71-run stand. And then, Dhoni turned it around with his captaincy at the first opening. He had his spinners on hold until Shardul Thakur bagged the big scalp of Rohit. As soon as Rohit was off, Dhoni brought Jadeja on for the new man. Jadeja repaid the faith, sending Suryakumar Yadav for three.
With two left-handers in the middle, Dhoni introduced Moeen Ali in the attack, who took out de Kock. That was the only over that Moeen bowled.
Pollard’s entry did not allow spinners to operate for long and the pacers didn't instill much confidence, hence, letting Pollard take the charge.
Dhoni, can however, ponder the events of the last ball. The field was not brought in with 2 runs required off the last ball. In fact, the last ball was bowled so quickly for such a situation, it appeared as if no changes were made in the field, which allowed Pollard to scamper back for the winning runs.