Dwayne Bravo’s blitzkrieg innings of 68 off just 30 balls delivered Chennai Super Kings a thrilling victory against Mumbai Indians and marked a sensational return for the franchise.
While defending 165 runs, Mumbai maintained stronghold for the most part of Chennai’s innings but Bravo smashed 20 runs each in the 18th and 19th over to script an incredible win that overshadowed Krunal Pandya’s brilliant knock of 41 off 21 balls.
CSk got off to a rough start in the chase as Hardik Pandya sent back Shane Watson and Suresh Raina inside the powerplay overs with the team score at 42.
Then the unknown Mayank Markande, playing his first game in IPL, announced his arrival with a bang. The leg-spinner outfoxed Ambati Rayadu with his unpredictable googly and also accounted for the big-wicket of MS Dhoni. During most part of Markande’s spell, batsmen failed to read his variations and were constantly troubled.
He finished with three wickets in four overs and gave away only 23 runs.
CSK lost wickets at regular intervals and never looked good in the chase. After 17 overs the team was tottering at 119 for eight wickets down and needed 47 off 18 balls.
And then Bravo happened. The right-hand batsman smashed McClenaghan for two sixes and one four in the 18th over to collect 20 runs and then clobbered Bumrah for three sixes in the 19th over to produce 20 more runs.
Bravo was out on the last ball of the 19th over with CSK still needing seven runs off six balls. Kedar Jadhav then smashed a six and a four against Mustafizur Rahman in the final over and completed a sensational win for CSK.
Earlier in the day, Ishan Kishan (40 off 29 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (43 off 29 balls) scored 768 runs in 52 balls for the third wicket to laid the foundation for Mumbai Indians. Krunal Pandya then produced five fours and 2 sixes in the death overs to take Mumbai to 165 runs after 20 overs.
Shane Watson picked up two wickets while Imran Tahir and Deepak Chahar grabbed one each.
