Mumbai Indians produced a clinical performance to beat Chennai Super Kings by 46 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Friday. The win brought an end to the hosts’ undefeated home record in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 as Rohit Sharma made 67 at the top and Lasith Malinga finished with figures of 4 for 37.

With 155 on the board to defend, Malinga gave us the perfect start with the wicket of Shane Watson in the very first over. The Sri Lankan could have had Murali Vijay’s wicket as well in his second over, but unfortunately Anukul Roy dropped him. We didn’t have to wait for our second wicket for too long though as CSK’s stand-in skipper Suresh Raina was sent back to the dugout after mistiming a delivery from Hardik Pandya.

Krunal Pandya then got in on the action with a straight delivery that went right through Ambati Rayudu’s defence, took away his bails and removed him from the middle. MI could have taken another wicket just before the end of the powerplay. However, Vijay’s uncontrolled pull shot fell just short of a diving Krunal and trickled on to the boundary ropes to make it 40 for three after the first six overs.

Krunal’s effort on the field seemed to be rewarded in his very next over as Kedar Jadhav chopped on to his stumps in the eighth over. New batsman Dhruv Shorey and Vijay should have been run-out in the next over but throws went off the mark which gave them the chance to make their ground.

Not like that made much of a difference, as debutant Anukul got in amongst the wickets in his very first over. Dhruv Shorey’s attempt at clearing the ropes ended in Rahul Chahar’s hands. Vijay’s charmed life in the middle ended soon after courtesy of a smart catch by Suryakumar Yadav off Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling. Dwayne Bravo and Mitchell Santner showed some fight, but Malinga and Bumrah combined to dismiss them and run through the rest of the tail for our second win over Chennai this season. 

Earlier in the evening, MI made a decent start and ended the powerplay with 45 runs on the scoreboard. We lost Quinton de Kock in the third over after a slower ball by Deepak Chahar deceived him. The South African looked good and even hit a four and a six before walking back to the hut.

After his departure, Rohit and Evin Lewis came together to put on a wonderful 75-run partnership that ensured we scored at a healthy run rate. Both batsmen were particularly severe on CSK’s tricky spinners with Rohit taking a liking to Harbhajan Singh and depositing him to the stands, while Lewis kept smashing Imran Tahir straight back over his head.

The partnership came to an end in the 13th over when Lewis was caught at deep midwicket off Santner’s bowling while trying to hit another maximum. The same over saw Rohit score his fifty as MI breached the 100-run mark. Krunal joined Rohit at the crease following Lewis’ departure, but the left-handed all-rounder lasted just three balls.

Rohit though continued to attack Chennai’s bowlers and ended up hitting Tahir to all corners of the park before perishing in the 17th over. Hardik and Kieron Pollard tried their best to accelerate in the slog overs and the duo combined for two boundaries and a six in the final over to get us to 155, which was always going to be a difficult total to chase.