Dhoni’s late charge adds to MI’S woes
Rohit Sharma’s MI slump to seventh defeat on the trot to severely dent their chances of entering the knockout stages
NAVI MUMBAI: Not for nothing have encounters between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings—two of the most successful and well-rounded IPL outfits– been so keenly followed in the past. Their battle on Thursday, however, was an apt reflection of their position this season: right at the bottom.
It was the kind of game where Ravindra Jadeja spilled two chances (and his team plenty more), Ishan Kishan fell over missing a fairly innocuous ball and Ruturaj Gaikwad gifted a first-ball half-tracker straight to backward point. Yet this scrappy contest on a gripping DY Patil Stadium surface had the classic MS Dhoni Houdini act to end it.
With 16 needed off four balls from Jaydev Unadkat, Dhoni— with a six down the ground, a pull for four, a hustling double and a heave off a low full toss past short fine leg—took CSK over the line. The holders got to MI’S 155/7 with three wickets to spare for their season’s second win. MI slumped to their seventh loss in seven games. Teams have sneaked into the play-offs with 14 points or less in seven previous seasons, but for this MI unit it appears a distant dream.
CSK’S chase had the familiar early wobble after Gaikwad and Mitchell Santner, drafted in to play Moeen Ali’s role, gave Daniel Sams a couple of wickets. Ambati Rayudu (40, 35b) was pulling them well, and Robin Uthappa (30, 25b) creaming them down the ground as their 50-run stand motored along till the ninth over.
After Unadkat removed the latter, Sams got into the thick of things again in his second spell. The Aussie dismissed the in-form Shivam Dube caught behind in the 13th over and Rayudu off a full toss that was caught by Kieron Pollard running in from long-off. When Rayudu exited for Dhoni to enter, CSK needed 53 off five overs. Dhoni lost Jadeja when he attempted a big shot the next over, only for Dwaine Pretorius (22,14b) to swing a few and bring it down to 17 off the last over. Dhoni then took over.
Rohit was at his jovial self at the toss, but the lack of an impact innings from him could get increasingly concerning. The skipper departed for a two-ball zero, chipping a full ball angling in from left-armer Mukesh Choudhary to mid-on. It was a probing first over from Choudhary, each ball pitched up and heading towards the stumps. Kishan played the wrong line of one such delivery.
Two down in one over, it could have been three in two for MI had Jadeja not pulled out of a skier running back from cover to hand Dewald Brevis a life. Didn’t matter, for Choudhary’s cutter soon had the charging South African caught behind. Suryakumar Yadav top-edged a sweep off Mitchell Santner to deep square leg two overs after a similar shot sailed into the stands. Tilak Varma—also dropped by Dwayne Bravo at slip on 2—and 21-year-old debutant Hrithik Shokeen engineered the MI rebuild from 49/4 to 85/4 before Bravo dismissed Shokeen.
Pollard connected one over long-on but some good old street-smart CSK tactics saw him hole out to a straight boundary rider positioned between long off and long on. It was only after some late blows by Varma, who reached his fifty in 42 balls, and Unadkat in a 35-run eighth-wicket stand off 16 balls that MI’S total went beyond 150.
Pathirana replaces Milne CSK named young Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana as replacement for injured Adam Milne.
New Zealand’s Milne suffered a hamstring injury in CSK’S first match against KKR, weeks after which he has been ruled out of the tournament. Pathirana, a young 19-year old medium pacer, was a part of Sri Lanka’s U-19 World Cup squads in 2020 and 2022.
Brief scores: MI 155/7 (T Varma 51*; M Choudhary 3/19). CSK
156/7 in 20 ovs (A Rayudu 40, R Uthappa 30, MS Dhoni 28*; D Sams 4/30).
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