Chennai:
Fifties by Rachin Ravindra (65 not out) and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (53) helped Chennai Super Kings kickstart their IPL 2025 marketing campaign with a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians on the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. After Noor Ahmad’s 4-18 and Khaleel Ahmed’s 3-29 helped CSK limit MI to 155/9, Gaikwad combined aggression and timing to hit six fours and three sixes whereas citing his fifty in 22 balls, his quickest half-century within the match. Despite wickets falling from the opposite finish, Ravindra held one finish agency to hit an unbeaten 45-ball 65, laced with two fours and 4 sixes, as CSK accomplished a nervy win. For MI, who haven’t gained their first match of an IPL season since 2012, debutant Vignesh Puthur’s spell of 3-32 can be the most important constructive.
Chasing 156, Deepak Chahar struck as Rahul Tripathi top-edged his quick ball to keeper Ryan Rickleton within the second over. Gaikwad, popping out at quantity three, creamed two drives off Trent Boult for back-to-back fours, earlier than pulling Chahar for six.
With debutant pacer Satyanarayana Raju giving the width, Gaikwad capitalised on his errors to hammer by way of sq. of the off-side, earlier than pulling, whipping, and smashing Mitchell Santner for six and two fours, as CSK ended the power-play at 62/1. Post that, Gaikwad lofted Will Jacks inside-out for six, earlier than citing his fifty in 22 balls. But Gaikwad fell for 53 when he regarded to play the lofted straight drive in opposition to debutant Vignesh Puthur, however holed out to long-off.
Puthur, but to play senior cricket for Kerala, had one other massive wicket when Shivam Dube holed out to the fielder close to the straight boundary for 9, shortly after deceiving the spin hitter with a googly. Amidst all this, Ravindra, who was at 28 off 27 balls, signalled a shift in gears by dancing down the pitch and lofting Puthur for six. But the younger spinner’s dream evening continued as Deepak Hooda did not get elevation on the slog-sweep and was caught within the deep.
From there, CSK’s troubles started as after two quiet overs, Sam Curran tried to tackle Jacks however was castled for 4. With 31 runs wanted off the final 4 overs, Ravindra Jadeja sliced Boult by way of backward level to gather a 4 in a 10-run seventeenth over.
Ravindra, in the meantime, introduced up his fifty in 42 balls by hoicking Puthur over mid-wicket for six, earlier than smoking him over long-on for one more most. Though Jadeja was run out for 17, Ravindra completed off the chase in type by pulling Santner for six, a lot to the delight of the group, who additionally bought to see MS Dhoni, who did not rating a run, as CSK started their marketing campaign with a win.
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