It hurts; our momentum took a hit. But we can be super proud of this effort in the chase. Let’s chin up and hit the road for the next four games. 

We won the toss, bowled first and restricted Chennai Super Kings to 206/4 with captain Hardik grabbing 2/43.

Come the second innings, Rohit Sharma (105*)’s partnerships with Ishan Kishan (23) and Tilak Varma (31) gave us the confidence to chase 207 at our home turf. However, our effort fell short as CSK relied on Matheesha Pathirana (4/28) to confine us to 186/6.

Here is how the latest El Clasico transpired.

Coetzee draws the first blood

Our ‘Karate Kid’ was the first MI bowler to gatecrash CSK's party. A short-of-a-length delivery on off stump tricked Ajinkya Rahane to go for the pull shot. However, it was a mistimed effort, and captain Hardik Pandya completed a comfortable catch.

Ishan calls, wicket falls

Ishan Kishan brought Rachin Ravindra’s brief cameo (21 runs off 16 balls) to a close. A confident appeal-cum-review by our wicket-keeper saw Shreyas Gopal’s short googly take a sneaky nick off Ravindra’s bat and land in the gloves of the ‘Pocket Dynamo’ gloves.

1 W 0 0 1 0

MI needed a breakthrough, and our skipper stepped in immediately in the 16th over. Hardik removed CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad to halt the 90-run partnership between Gaikwad and Shivam Dube. HP would only concede one run in the successive four balls following the wicket — super stuff!

Target set: 207

Supported by a late cameo from MS Dhoni, Chennai Super Kings complete their innings at 206/4. Before Dhoni’s four-ball 20, our opponents banked on the half-centuries of Ruturaj Gaikwad (69) and Shivam Dube (66 not out) to hand us a target of 207 to chase in 20 overs.

A confident headstart!

Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan, the opening pairing, established their authority early in the run chase, combining to register 63/0 in the powerplay. At the start of the eighth over, Kishan (15-ball 23) would depart, having done his part to give us a good platform.

Hitman and milestones - a relationship like none other

Rohit Sharma, Records, Runs — a symbiotic relationship that is always a delight to watch. The iconic opener achieved two milestones: the most runs by a batter in the MIvCSK rivalry (512 and counting) and the first Indian to hit 500 sixes in T20 cricket.

Tilak, David keep us in the hunt with positive cameos

Young southpaw Tilak Varma came in to bat at number four and injected some confidence into the chase with his 20-ball 31, which included five boundaries. Meanwhile, Tim David, after captain Hardik’s departure, smacked two sixes in his five-ball stay to ease the asking rate.

Rohit fights on, but…

The Hitman kept fighting on with his unbeaten 105 off 63 balls, but as the wickets kept tumbling, it became difficult to get closer to the finish line.

Paltan, we kept fighting right through. We refused to throw in the towel even when things kept getting tough. That's the MI spirit. And now, as we go on the road for the next four games, a lot more of it will come out. Onto Punjab now..

Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 206/4 (Ruturaj Gaikwad 69, Shivam Dube 66*; Hardik Pandya 2/43) BEAT Mumbai Indians 186/6 (Rohit Sharma 105*, Tilak Varma 31; Matheesha Pathirana 4/28) by 20 runs.