MUMBAI: A combined bowling effort, followed by brisk half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav, propelled Mumbai Indians (MI) to a nine-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 38th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 here at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
Put into bat first, the visitors could only accumulate 176/5 in their 20 overs despite Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube’s half-centuries.
The Super Kings got off to a dismal start to their innings as they lost overseas opener Rachin Ravindra (five) on the first delivery of the fourth over with just 16 runs on the board.
Following the early hiccup, Ayush Mhatre and Shaikh Rasheed combined to add an important 41 runs for the second wicket before both perished in successive overs, resulting in CSK slipping to 63/3 in eight overs.
Mhatre smashed four fours and two sixes on his way to a 15-ball 32, while Rasheed made 19 from 20 deliveries.
After the back-to-back blows, Dube joined veteran all-rounder Jadeja in the middle to launch recovery. The duo took the attack back to the home side’s bowlers to put together a rampant 79-run partnership for the fourth wicket.
The stand culminated with Dube’s dismissal in the 17th over. He scored 50 off 32 deliveries with the help of two fours and four sixes.
Jadeja, on the other hand, carried his bat all the way through and returned after top-scoring with an unbeaten 53 off 35 deliveries, laced with four fours and two sixes.
Jasprit Bumrah was the standout bowler for MI as he picked up two wickets for just 25 runs in his two overs, while Ashwani Kumar, Deepak Chahar and Mitchell Santner chipped in with one strike apiece.
In response, the hosts comfortably chased down the 177-run target for the loss of just one wicket and 26 balls to spare, courtesy of an unbeaten 114-run partnership between Rohit and Yadav, who both scored half-centuries.
The home side had a flamboyant start to the run chase as their opening pair of Rohit and Ryan Rickelton yielded 64 runs in just 6.3 overs until the latter fell victim to Jadeja after scoring 24 off 19 deliveries with the help of three fours and a six.
Rohit was then joined by Yadav in the middle and the duo combined to outclass the CSK bowlers and steered MI to their third consecutive victory in the ongoing IPL 2025.
Rohit top-scored for MI with an unbeaten 76 off 45 deliveries, studded with four fours and six sixes, while Yadav made 68 not out from 30 balls, which featured six fours and five sixes.
The nine-wicket victory lifted Mumbai Indians to the sixth position in the IPL 2025 standings as they now have eight points in eight matches, while Chennai Super Kings remained at the bottom with just four points after as many games.
