IPL 2023: Ajinkya Rahane cracks 61 for CSK after MI limp to 157-8

CSK’s Ravindra Jadeja (left) and Mitchell Santner celebrate a MI wicket at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Pics/Ashish Raje

Though Mumbai Indians (MI) were playing on their home ground, it appeared that MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings (CSK) read the conditions perfectly and restricted the hosts to 157-8 in their allotted 20 overs at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.

Ajinkya Rahane's blistering 61 off 27 balls took CSK to 82-2 after eight overs.

Tushar Deshpande (left) is delighted after picking up a wicket

Put into bat, MI started off well, scoring 10 runs in the opening over, bowled by pacer Deepak Chahar. But CSK's local boy - speedster Tushar Deshpande (2-31) - bowled splendidly to beat MI skipper Rohit Sharma twice with his outswingers and gave away only six runs in his first over.

Tushar cleans up Rohit

The charged-up Deshpande looked more dangerous and ended his second over with a terrific straight delivery which disturbed his Mumbai Ranji teammate Rohit's furniture. Rohit departed for a 13-ball 21 (3x4, 1x6).

MI got a decent start with 61-1 after six overs. However, the two left-arm spinners - Ravindra Jadeja (3-20) and Mitchell Santner (2-28) - turned the tide in favour of the Chennai outfit. MI were 76-5 inside 10 overs. Jadeja first dispatched opener Ishan Kishan (21-ball 32, 5x4) via long-on fielder Dwaine Pretorius. On match eve, MI's batting coach Kieron Pollard backed local boy Suryakumar Yadav and blamed the media for making an issue about his form. But Suryakumar managed to score only one in two balls before Dhoni showcased splendid glovework, taking a sharp catch to his left off Kiwi Santner.

Jadeja's second wicket came in the form of one-drop Cameron Green (12), who offered a sharp return catch. Kiwi umpire Chris Gaffaney would have been injured had Jadeja failed to hold on to the chance.

Also read: MI vs CSK higlhights: Chennai win by 7 wickets, Mumbai suffer second successive loss

Santner, Jadeja two good

Jadeja and Santner conceded just 48 runs in their eight overs and shared five MI wickets amongst them. It was a complete team effort, outstanding support from the fielding department and timely bowling changes which gave the visitors the upper hand in the first half of the game.

Deshpande would have had success on the first ball of the 17th over but Ruturaj Gaikwad dropped Tim David (22-ball 31) at long-off. David capitalised on the chance by smashing two sixes and a four. Deshpande, however, had the last laugh when Ajinkya Rahane showed good anticipation to take a low catch at deep midwicket.