Mumbai: Chennai Super Kings snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as they edged defending champions Mumbai Indians by just one wicket in the first match of the eleventh season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), on Saturday. West Indian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo was the star of the day while Kedar Jadhav became the hero of the last over as CSK got their campaign off to a thrilling start.
Chasing a decent target, Chennai openers Ambati Rayudu and Shane Watson gave the team an ideal start as they started to hit boundaries from the word go. Rayudu was the aggressor of the two right-handers, as he was particularly destructive on the off-side.
Hardik Pandya was introduced in the fourth of the innings and he did the trick by getting rid of Watson for 16 to break the opening partnership. Suresh Raina became Hardik’s second scalp of the day as he gave away a simple catch to Krunal at mid-on for 4.
Debutant Mayank Markande was introduced into the attack by Rohit and the decision to do so worked wonders for the Blue Brigade as the wrist-spinner simply tore the CSK line-up. First, he trapped Rayudu plumb in front of the wicket for 22 and then, he got the prized wicket of MS Dhoni for 5.
Reeling at 51/4, Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja started the rebuilding job and tried to put on a good partnership for the fifth wicket. However, the 24-run stand was ended by Mustafizur Rahman who scalped his first wicket by getting rid of Jadeja as Chennai lost half their side at this point.
Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh and Mark Wood all followed suit in quick successions as Mumbai looked like finishing the match early. However, Bravo had other ideas as he completely changed the complexion of the match single-handedly.
Bravo first took the attack to McClenaghan and slammed two sixes and one boundary in the 18th over of the innings. Bumrah was the next bowler to be taken apart by Bravo as he hit three massive sixes in the penultimate over and also complete his fifty in stunning style.
However, on the last ball off the over, Bumrah got the wicket of Bravo and Chennai needed 7 runs off the last Mustafizur over. Jadhav — who had to head back into the hut after sustaining a hamstring injury earlier in the innings — returned to bat in the last over.
Jadhav slammed one six and one four on the fourth and the fifth balls respectively as Chennai completed a thrilling one-wicket win the IPL XI opener.
Earlier, after put to bat first, Mumbai posted a fighting total of 165/4 in their designated 20 overs, courtesy of a late blitz from the Pandya brothers.
But it was Chennai who drew first blood in the innings when Deepak Chahar got rid of the dangerous Evin Lewis early on in the innings. Chahar trapped the West Indies LBW for a duck in just the third over of the innings.
Skipper Rohit Sharma tried to up the ante from one end as he hit a four and six. But his innings was cut short by Watson, who got rid of the Mumbai captain for just 15 after the right-hander skied the ball up in the air and Rayudu took an easy catch at point.
Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav then issued a stunning fightback and put on a good partnership for the fourth wicket. The duo dealt in boundaries and took the attack to the Mumbai bowlers. Kishan and Suryakumar put on 78-run stand to take Mumbai’s score closer to the 100-run mark.
But just as the duo were looking settled, Watson removed Suryakumar (43) to bring CSK right back into the contest. Kishan (40) was the next to depart as he was dismissed by Tahir.
The Pandya brothers then took centrestage and the duo started to hit the CSK bowlers at will. Krunal was the most destructive of the duo as he finished the innings with 41 off just 22 deliveries. Meanwhile, Hardik could muster 22 off 20 deliveries.
The duo put on an unbeaten 52-run partnership to break the take hosts’ score past the 150-run mark and their partnership included seven boundaries and two massive sixes as well.