Experimenting didn’t pay well for CSK skipper MS Dhoni.

Chennai Super Kings fall short of 16 runs.

Dhoni & Smith are the two most successful captains in IPL with win% of 65.5 and 60 respectively, competed with their teams yesterday. It was high scoring match which Chennai super kings (CSK) fought till end. Rajasthan Royals (RR) had Scored 216 runs and CSK tried their best and reached till 200 & fallen short for just 16 runs. Sanju samson played destructive innings with fastest fifty of this IPL and also did great job with wicketkeeping . Jofra came out to be the game-changer with his batting and even bowling too which lead royals to win.

Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah it’s significant as that place has been very important for Indians. Because in 1980s and 1990s a lot of ODIs were played there and most of them against Pakistan and Australia. Sharjah’s ground is smaller than the other two grounds at UAE. So hitting boundaries will be easy but as the ball gets old, the pitch will grip it so a total like 160 could also be defendable. It’s totally different surface to Dubai or Abu Dhabi in terms of runs and the size of the venue. It is challenging situation for bowlers. As an high-scorer game is on the cards.

Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Picture courtesy: Gulf news .

“We saw grass at Abu Dhabi and Dubai. There is no grass on this wicket. I can’t predict any sideways movement. You will be thinking low bounce when you prepare to play on this wicket. Once you get a pace of the wicket, you can score quickly. So, the guy who wins the toss will like to chase,” reads Kevin Pietersen.

Chennai Super Kings had won the toss and have opted to field first, “due to dew as one of the factors,” as skipper MS Dhoni said.

Jaiswal and Smith were at the crease to open the game. No sooner then they were ready for the chase, Chahar broke the partnership by taking a wicket of Jaiswal. Later Samson coming into the picture who gave a hitting start supported by Smith. Samson completed his half century in 19 balls which made him the Man of the Match.

Picture courtesy: IPL twitter handle.

“50 from just 19. Such pure, clean, elegant hitting. I could watch Sanju Samson bat all day, every day.” – Harsha Bhogle.

Stats time:
Fastest 50s for RR in IPL
18 J Buttler v DD Delhi 2019
19 O Shah vs RCB Bengaluru 2012
19 S Samson vs CSK Sharjah 2020

After time-out Jadeja came back into attack and compensated for his last over by giving just 4 runs in this over. Here come one more big over by chawla giving 19 runs and got hit couple of six by Samson-Smith. Samson was unstoppable even Jadeja’s good bowling couldn’t stop him from hitting maximum. Ngidi came back into attack in 12th over and here he takes wicket of Samson who was ruthlessly playing. Miller, who came in to bat got run out without even playing a single bowl. It was 134-3 after 12 overs. Robbin uthappa stepped in to bat. Chawla who had given 47 runs in two overs was back and this time he compensated a bit by giving just 3 runs. It was 147-3 after 14 overs and here was the time for a strategic break. Chawla was back into attack and with first ball of the 15th over and he took uthappa’s wicket by bowling decently.

Yashasvi jaiswal after watching cricketing legend MS Dhoni in front of him.

Picture courtesy: IPL handle on twitter.

Ngidi came into attack and was beaten with a couple of fours. It was 166-4 after 16 overs. Sam curran was back and he took a couple of wickets in this over and bowled a decent over by giving just 7 runs. Chahar was back into attack in the 18th over and played in a fantastic manner in his bowling by giving just 3 runs in an over. After 18 overs it was 177-6. Now Sam curran was back into attack and he managed to get the big man Smith out by giving his efforts for the team He contributed 69 runs in 47 balls. It was 186 for 7 wickets after the 19th over and here was the batsman Jofra archer on strike with Ngidi bowling into attack but this over changed everything thing for Rajasthan Royals from 186 to 216 runs with the help of Ngidi and Jofra.

Some interesting stats of this innings were

17 sixes were now most hit by rajasthan royals.
This was the fourth highest total for RR in IPL.

Picture courtesy: ESPNCRICINFO twitter handle.

Then came the second innings, where Watson and Vijay were in the crease for opening and Unadkat was opening for the attack.
The 1st over was a decent one with 5 runs for unadkat as CSK needed to start hitting from the start to chase this huge run total. 2nd over by Jofra was again a great over in terms of bowling giving just 3 runs. Second over for Unadkat and Murli vijay opened with back to back boundaries and it was a decent over for CSK to be in the game. In the 4th over Jofra archer was welcomed by the maximum from Watson but other 5 balls were dot deliveres and Jofra compensated in this over itself. Shreyas gopal came into attack for 5tg over he gave 11 runs in this over. Hence it was 5 overs 36-0 Vijay was on 19 runs and Watson was on 16 runs. Watson hits a couple of sixes and one boundry for tom Curran’s over. 17 runs from 6th over was an hope for CSK to fight and be in the game strongly. Here comes first wicket taken by Rahul tewatia in 7th over of Watson who was at 33 runs. 8th over by Gopal got another shock with wicket of another opener vijay who scored 21of 21 balls. Du plessis was on the crease with Sam curran on the other end started hitting those risky shots. Where sam Curran scored quick 17 runs from just 6 balls and Tewatia took his wicket in the 9th over and there was a time out after 8.5 overs. Rituraj gaikwad a debutant came in to bat and went for a duck. Then shreyas gopal put a very decent over by giving just 5 runs. It was just 82-4 after 10 overs and all hopes were going away but there was one big hope alive as the skipper of CSK was yet to come.

Sanju samson flying to take catch.
Picture courtesy: IPL handle on twitter

Even Du plessis was settling down with kedar jadhav. Here comes the hatrick boundaries by kedar jadhav to bowler Shreyas gopal. It was 101-4 after 12 overs but had long way to go.

The Game was going away as there were a few dot balls poured. In the 14th over tom Curran took kedar Jadhav’s wicket who had scored 22 runs of 16 balls. But making the way for captain itself, MS Dhoni comes in and hopes rise again. In the 6th ball of 14th over Dhoni took his first run in the international cricket since the worldcup2019 semi-final.

It was 14 overs 115-5, And now Du plessis started hitting sixes to the stands in 15th over. Dhoni started batting without helmet which means he wanted to go for some big hits with Du plessis. 16 runs from 15th over showed some hopes alive for CSK. Again Jofra came into attack with his brilliant bowling figures giving only 7 runs in 16th over. 17th over Du plessis welcomed Unadkat with maximum and ended hitting two more sixes. It was 14th fifty for Faf duplesis, he was at 55 runs made by just 29 balls.

Faf du plessis hitting the ball.
Picture courtesy: IPL handle on twitter.

Needed 58 runs from 18 balls and Tom curran was back in to attack. He did decent bowling by giving 10 runs during death over. Here comes the star player Jofra into attack, giving just 10 runs and taking the wicket of another star player Du plessis. This stretched the game more towards rajasthan royals. Jadeja come to bat and 38 runs were needed from 6 balls which was impossible. Tom Curran was back in to attack but now Dhoni settled and started hitting biggies. 2runs in two balls and then Dhoni hits 3 back to back sixes from which one of it went out of the park. It was a 92 meters long six. He finished with single run and CSK fell short of just 16 runs.

Picture courtesy: IPL handle on twitter.

That 30 runs in last over of first innings, given by Ngidi to Royals, later took toll on CSK. Although the match results gone into hands of RR but CSK gave their 100% efforts and reached till 200 runs. As Dhoni’s experimental efforts with batting order didn’t showed results as he thought but learnings are the part of game and as we know CSK is such team they can come back stronger whenever they want.

“Steve and Samson batted very well. Need to give credit to their bowlers. I haven’t batted for a long time. 14-day quarantine doesn’t help (why he isn’t batting higher). Also wanted to try different things, give opportunities to Sam. Have the opportunity to try different things. If it doesn’t work, you can always go back to your strengths.” – skipper of CSK MS Dhoni.

MS Dhoni during post match presentation.
Picture courtesy: IPL handle on twitter.

Man of the match was given to Sanju samson for his extraordinary innings.

Sanju samson during post match presentation.
Picture courtesy: IPL handle on twitter.

“My game plan is stand and deliver. I’ve been working hard on my fitness, diet and training, and on my strength, because my game relies a lot on power hitting. I had time to work out in these 5 months, and I think I’ve increased that ability. We are happy to bring smiles on the fans’ faces and we hope to continue doing so.” – Man of the match Sanju samson.

Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings defeated Mumbai Indians by 5 wickets with 4 balls to spare.

The yellow army cruised to victory after 5 straight losses against the men in blue!

Dream11 IPL 2020 kick started with the mother of all clashes. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the final over after losing 5 consecutive matches in the past tournament. Dhoni’s Super Kings put up a brilliant show on a Saturday night to win over the IPL 2019 winners. It was the skipper’s 100th win for the CSK franchise since the inception of IPL in 2008.

After 437 days of no cricket, Dhoni returned with a bang. After recently retiring from International cricket, he looked fitter than ever.

Picture courtesy : Business Standard

With empty stands, no display of placards and banners, it was odd not just for the players but the audience as well. The governing body did make an attempt to replicate the atmosphere by playing pre-recorded audio of fans hooting from previous matches, but it didn’t create much of a difference.

Correct decisions made by the winning captain turned the match in their favour with splendid batting performance by Ambati Rayudu (former MI player) and Faf du Plessis. Faf also contributed with 3 out-of-the-world catches down the part. Sam Curran also displayed an all-round show with both, bat and the ball.

The “opening match jinx” continued for MI as this loss was their 8th consecutive loss at their opening match. The last time they won their opening match was back in 2012 when the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar was still playing for the franchise.

“Something for us to learn. Still early days in the tournament where momentum is important. A few things for us to learn in this game, we did make a few mistakes. Hopefully we’ll rectify those and come out smarter in the next game” – Rohit Sharma, the losing captain, at the post match presentation.

Picture courtesy : Inside Sport

Mumbai Indians are known to bounce back, for they’ve won all 4 titles after losing the first few matches. However, Shaikh Zayed Stadium is the one with biggest dimensions. So hitting some shots here isn’t easy like back home at Wankhede in Mumbai.

The match started with Dhoni winning the toss and putting Rohit Sharma’s Mumbai Indians to bat first. The grassy pitch told that there’s something for the new ball. An average scoring game with 160-180 runs was on the charts.

The new normal… (at the toss)

Picture courtesy : Instagram/@iplt20

MI’s skipper opened the innings with a boundary alongside Quinton de Kock. But they got out cheaply at 12(8) and 33(20) respectively. At the end of 10 overs, everyone felt that Mumbai can take the total to 180-190. But after the De kock departed at 121/3, no partnership was built. Suryakumar Yadav 17(16) and Saurabh Tiwary 42(31) tried to carry on the momentum only to be put down by the bowlers in yellow. Saurabh, who was picked against Ishan Kishan was bang on business. Hardik Pandya with SR 140 and Pollard with SR 129 did hit a couple shots in the park. They made their intentions clear and targeted Lungi Ngidi to do so.

The wickets kept toppling for MI as they put 162 on board at the loss of 9 wickets. Clearly, 15-20 runs short of what they should be with such a great batting line up. They lost 7 wickets in the second half of the second innings with 3 in the death overs. Scoring just 2 runs off the final ball, Mumbai Indians put up 162 for 9 on board with CSK to chase it down at the asking rate of a little above 8 runs per over.

Mumbai Indian’s Rohit Sharma in action

Picture courtesy : Gulf News

Meanwhile, CSK’s bowlers kept impressing. They kept hitting the right line and lengths. CSK took advantage of the pitch and the outfield. It was a Faf-ulous show for Faf du Plessis took 3 brilliant catches at the boundary to dismiss Tiwary, Hardik and Rahul Chahar. While in his lucky headband, Sam Curran joined the party and took 2 catches to dismiss Rohit early in the innings and then SKY. Sam also played decently with the ball to give CSK a breakthrough by taking de Kock’s wicket who seemed dangerous in the powerplay. Bringing back Piyush Chawla to the franchise also proved to be a good pick. He dismissed Rohit early on in the innings with his smart bowling.

In the second innings, Mumbai came back hard. They attacked early and dismissed both the openers Murali Vijay and Shane Watson in the first 12 balls itself. Perhaps, Vijay was plumbed off James Pattinson, result of bad decision by the on-field umpire S. Ravi.

Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis took control of the match. Both of them hit half centuries to chase down the scoreboard. They put up a good partnership of more than 100 runs. This shows the strength in Chennai’s batting line up and the way these two batsman controlled the innings speaks volumes. Panic and CSK don’t go hand in hand. The Captain’s coolness sweeps through the players.

Picture courtesy : India Today

Mumbai Indians could have beaten Rayudu early on if they hadn’t missed opportunities after opportunities. Rohit’ team failed to field tightly and kept falling short of catches. They also gave away easy runs with sloppy fielding. This in turn helped CSK build their inninings. The men in blue couldn’t build any pressure on the batters.

After Rahul Chahar’s unorthodox bowling approach, Rayudu got out after making 71 runs from 48 balls. The gun of CSK Ravindra Jadeja came out to bat when his team needed just 29 of 18 balls. Hitting the gaps well, he got off the mark with the boundary. He was soon plumbed by Krunal Pandya who pitched the outside outside off stump.

We could see Dhoni warming up in the stands and to our surprise, with less than 3 overs to go, Sam Curran was put up the order. Was it for the left and right hand combination with Faf or was it Dhoni just being Dhoni, always giving youngsters a chance to become better cricketers?

“One thing we haven’t done is giving a chance to Jadeja and Curran to come up the order and express themselves which is what we did today. It was a psychological thing of saying that okay, we have batsmen down, so we’ll send one or two of them up to hit a few” – M.S. Dhoni, the winning captain at the post match presentation.

Jasprit Bumrah, arguably the best bowler in the world right now, also fell prey to Chennai’s batting line up. He had started his spell with 4 dot balls but ended up giving 43 runs in his quota of 4 overs. Bumrah was given the 19th over to show some luck. The first ball to Curran went for a six and just the next ball was caught at covers. The English youngster departed after making 18 runs off 6 balls with one 4 and two 6s under his belt.

Picture courtesy : Business Standard

Faf’s half century came up on the 4th ball of the over. Playing with a strike rate of 119, that was Faf’s 13th IPL half century so far. Dhoni was new to the crease. The first ball that he faced could have been the last ball he faced that match if Dhoni hadn’t taken the DRS. He was caught behind but as a keeper himself, Dhoni knew that the noise was not from bat touching the ball. The next ball was a dot ball but hadn’t CSK sealed it already?

Just two balls in the final over were enough to clinch the game. The yellow army had a convincing win over the Mumbai Indians whose losing streak in the opening match continued.

Picture courtesy : Instagram/@iplt20

Rayudu was rightly awarded the man of the match award for his brilliant batting performance. He will turn 35 next week is the 8th member of the CSK squad to be 35 or plus and yet, the spirits are as high as they can get.

“I kept training in the lockdown. It was a stop-start but I was really eager” – Ambati Rayudu, MOM, at the post match presentation.

Match Summary :

Chennai Super Kings 166/5 (19.2)

Playing XI – Murali Vijay, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav, M.S. Dhoni (C & WK), Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla and Lungi Ngidi.

Mumbai Indians 162/9 (20)

Playing XI – Rohit Sharma (C), Quinton de Kock (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Saurabh Tiwary, Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya, Kieron Pollard, James Pattinson, Rahul Chahar, Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah

Winning team – Chennai Super Kings

Man of the Match – Ambati Rayudu

CRED Power Player of the Match – Quinton de Kock

Dream11 Game Changer – Faf du Plessis

Unacademy Let’s Crack it Sixes – Ambati Rayudu

Altroz Super Striker of the Match – Quinton de Kock

The El Clasico of the cash-rich league may have come to an end but we are looking forward to another thriller between Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab which is just a few hours away from now.

Picture courtesy : Inside Sport

Is it going to be Shreyas Iyer’s young blood or KL Rahul’s sheer passion for the game? Leave a comment down below and let us know who you will be supporting tonight!