Pathirana leads Super Kings to Chepauk canter over Mumbai
Chennai Super Kings 140 for 4 (Conway 44, Gaikwad 30, Chawla 2-25) beat Mumbai Indians 139 for 8 (Wadhera 64, Suryakumar 26, Pathirana 3-15) by six wickets
On a pitch the place the ball was stopping, it was really Chennai Super Kings’ tempo trio of Matheesha Pathirana, Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande which mixed to take seven wickets and prohibit Mumbai Indians to 139. Super Kings by no means regarded in hassle throughout the chase at Chepauk, the place Ruturaj Gaikwad’s fast cameo within the first 4 overs set them up for the six-wicket win.
Chahar’s twin strikes had lowered Mumbai to 14 for 3 within the third over; and though Nehal Wadhera and Suryakumar Yadav added 55 to stage a restoration, Pathirana utilized the brakes within the dying overs. Mumbai managed solely 17 – whereas dropping 4 wickets – within the final three overs, as Wadhera’s maiden T20 fifty turned out to be a solitary effort.
The win takes Super Kings to the second spot on the factors desk, at the same time as third-placed Lucknow Super Giants have an additional recreation in hand. Mumbai alternatively, stay sixth.
Pathirana, middle- and death-overs specialist
Only twice within the seven matches this season has Pathirana been launched earlier than the eleventh over. For anybody to have bowled at the least 120 balls in that interval, he has the perfect economic system price and common throughout that section.
On Saturday, he was launched within the thirteenth over, simply after Wadhera and Suryakumar had given Mumbai hope of a good complete. Pathirana’s first two overs went for under eight off the bat, and MS Dhoni saved his remaining overs for the dying. He returned to start out the 18th after the 2 overs earlier than that have been taken for 29 and gave solely two runs apart from bowling Wadhera. Seeing the batter make room, he fired a yorker which hit center stump at 145kph.
Pathirana combined his lengths as a lot as he various his tempo. That – mixed with the two-paced nature of the pitch – may need been why Tristan Stubbs struggled for timing, finally slicing to cover-point on being foxed by a slower ball. Pathirana ended with 3 for 15 – all wickets got here within the dying overs – and additional enhanced his repute of being the season’s greatest dying bowler to date for at least 60 balls bowled in that section.
Wadhera propels Mumbai to 139
With Tilak Varma out injured for this recreation, Mumbai have been lacking a strong middle-order batter. And compelled to rebuild after the top-order failure, Wadhera opened up after the powerplay when he gently lower Ravindra Jadeja for 4 to deep backward level, after which drilled Moeen Ali to deep additional cowl.
Once Wadhera picked up some momentum, he regarded assured sufficient to maintain attacking spin: Jadeja was slog-swept over quick superb to start out the eleventh over, earlier than he beat quick superb leg with one other sweep off Maheesh Theekshana within the 14th. And with 5 overs to go, he cracked the innings’ first six by launching Theekshana over long-on.
Wadhera’s fifty took 46 deliveries when it was raised within the seventeenth over, after which he swept, pulled and scooped Jadeja for fours, though his knock of 64 did not show sufficient.
Gaikwad begins in a rush, Dube finishes in model
Super Kings posted 46 within the first 4 overs, out of which Gaikwad had bashed 30. That included 4 fours and two sixes, as he obtained Super Kings’ chase rolling alongside Devon Conway. The first over included a drive and a flick for 4 off Cameron Green, whereas he turned the screw within the third over.
Mumbai launched left-arm seamer Arshad Khan, and Gaikwad went 6, 4, 4, 6: a pull over midwicket, a information behind level, a punch previous the bowler and a swivel-pull over lengthy leg. Gaikwad was dismissed off the primary ball of the fifth over by Piyush Chawla, who once more turned out to be the standout performer with the ball for Mumbai.
Although Chawla was hit for a 4 and a six by Ajinkya Rahane, he had the final snicker when he trapped the Super Kings batter with a googly within the ninth over. That got here after earlier getting Gaikwad with the legspinner. Chawla’s 4 overs went for under 25, and he was bowled out inside 11 overs.
Soon after, the platform that Gaikwad had laid was additional constructed by Shivam Dube, who supplied the ending kick. Two sixes off debutant left-arm wristspinner Raghav Goyal within the 14th over and one swung off Arshad Khan to Mumbai’s dugout two balls earlier than the profitable run took Super Kings to a cushty win after that they had misplaced two and had a recreation washed out simply earlier than.
Himanshu Agrawal is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo