CSK vs MI IPL 2024: Gaikwad, Dube, Pathirana take Chennai past Mumbai

CHENNAI: A brilliant partnership of 90 runs between captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube helped Chennai Super Kings overcome Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Matheesha Pathirana’s three early wickets then gave Chennai a vital win. Rohit Sharma did hit a century off 61 balls, but he did not get much help from the other end as Chennai registered a win by 20 runs.

In the chase, Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan gave the hosts perfect start with 70 runs in first seven overs. Kishan started where he left off against Bengaluru. Sharma teed off against Tushar Deshpande and Shardul Thakur. Pathirana took two wickets in his first over, including that of Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav as Chennai made a comeback in the match. Rohit kept Mumbai in the contest and he got the help of Tilak Varma who scored 31 off 20 balls. Once Varma fell, Mumbai kept losing wickets, while Rohit kept teenig off.

With 77 runs required from six overs, Thakur bowled one his best over of the match and gave away just two runs. Mustafizur Rahman gave away a few runs but took the imporatnt wicket of Tim David. Pathirana was well and truly the star of the show as he took four important wickets as Chennai took the two points.

Earlier, batting first, Chennai lost Ajinkya Rahane early in the innings for five runs off Gerald Coetzee. It did not take Gaikwad a lot of time to settle as he smoked a Mohammad Nabi for six straight away. Jasprit Bumrah started exceptionally well and gave away just six runs from his first over. Coetzee on the other hand, was not that fluent and gave away 14 runs in his second over. Akash Madhwal and Hardik Pandya went for runs, but Shreyas Gopal came back after getting hit for a six to end Ravindra’s knock.

Gaikwad then found a perfect partner in Dube as the pair went ballistic against the Mumbai bowling. Neither Romario Shepherd nor Madhwal were spared by the duo. Dube hit two boundaries to take 10 runs from the West Indies all-rounder’s first over. While his second over accounted for 22 runs. Gaikwad brought up his first half-century of the season off 33 balls.

Before Pandya sent Gaikwad back the duo added 39 runs in just 12 balls to take Chennai past 150 as Dube too scored a half-ton. Gaikwad’s wicket brought Daryl Mitchell in the middle and he added 36 runs for the third wicket. With four balls required to go in the innings, MS Dhoni hit three back-to-back sixes as Chennai went past 200 for the second time this season.

For Mumbai Indians, Nabi and Bumrah were the most economical bowlers, but neither were able to pick a wicket. Pandya took two wickets but he gave away 43 runs in his four overs.