Twitter Reactions: Mumbai Indians thump Dhoni-less CSK at the Chepauk by 46 runs

The Mumbai Indians (MI) have come one step closer to the playoff qualification with their thumping win over the Chennai Super Kings (CSK). They also remain the only team in so many years to defeat the Men in Yellow at the MA Chidambaram stadium. The hosts missed MS Dhoni badly once again after the skipper missed the game due to fever. Even Ravindra Jadeja and Faf du Plessis didn’t play this game as they were unwell which hamstrung CSK badly just before the game.

Chasing 156 runs on a tricky wicket, CSK got off to an extremely bad start with Shane Watson getting out in the very first over to Lasith Malinga. Rohit Sharma cleverly brought in Krunal Pandya to bowl in the second over of the innings and the turn surprised the batsmen. The stand-in skipper Suresh Raina played a reckless shot off Hardik Pandya to get out.

The fall of wickets continued as Krunal sent back Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav even as the dot balls led to the required run-rate soaring pretty high. Meanwhile, Mural Vijay rode his luck to score 38 runs off 35 deliveries and his wicket turned out to be the final nail in the coffin for the home team. At 66/6, there were no hopes whatsoever for the CSK to win the game and it was about playing 20 overs for them and not let the NRR get worse.

However, the wickets kept on tumbling and the Men in Yellow endured one of the worst games of the seasons. They were bundled out for 109 runs in the 18th over.

Rohit finally scores

Earlier, after losing the toss, MI got off to a brilliant start. However, Quinton de Kock was sent back by Deepak Chahar in the third over. Evin Lewis, playing his first game, then stitched a crucial stand with the skipper Rohit Sharma. The latter looked in the mood on the day and slammed a half-century which kept Mumbai ahead in the game.

The pitch got slower as the game progressed and it worked for the bowling side. Mitchell Santner bowled superbly to sniff out both Lewis (32) and Rohit (67) and from here on, CSK pulled the game back nicely. Krunal Pandya, promoted at 4, couldn’t do much on the day and despite the efforts from Hardik and Kieron Pollard, MI could reach only 155 runs for the loss of four wickets, the total which looked a bit under par at that stage.

But some brilliant bowling coupled with the assistance from the pitch made it almost impossible to bat on the pitch as CSK lost the game by 46 runs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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