The Chepauk pitch had some assistance for the bowlers, and Chennai Super Kings made optimum use of it, recording a clinical eight-wicket victory over a listless Mumbai Indians.

Their bowlers laid the platform, restricting Mumbai to a modest 159/7, before captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Impact Player Kartik Sharma registered unbeaten half-centuries that took the Super Kings to the target with 11 balls to spare. The Super Kings have won both their matches against Mumbai this season.

After a tidy piece of work from pacer Anshul Kamboj (3/32), who’s now on par with Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the most number of wickets in this IPL, and spinner Noor Ahmad (2/26), the Super Kings lost Sanju Samson early to a wonderful away-going delivery from Jasprit Bumrah. But Samson’s opening partner Gaikwad (67 not out off 48 balls) remained stoic at the other end.

Gaikwad first paired up with Urvil Patel (24 off 12 balls) during their counter-attacking 49-run second-wicket stand. Thereafter, Kartik ensured to complement Gaikwad's performance as the duo focused on keeping the asking rate under control with efficient strike rotation peppered with big strokes.

What also makes this win for CSK a little more special is winning with only three overseas players — Dewald Brevis, Jamie Overton and Noor. They handed an IPL debut to Maharashtra seamer all-rounder Ramakrishna Ghosh, who was preferred over left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein. The move worked as Ghosh (1/24) dismissed a set Suryakumar Yadav and also took a smart catch to get rid of Will Jacks.

Earlier, the Mumbai innings never quite got going once the Ryan Rickelton-Naman Dhir pair were separated. Dhir top-scored with 57 off 37 balls, but his innings was not as fluent as one would expect in a T20 game. Skipper Hardik Pandya's lack of urgency with both bat and ball has also hurt Mumbai, who are now close to being knocked out of the playoffs race.

Ideal lengths

CSK were almost spot-on with their lengths, particularly Kamboj. Picking up Jacks early in the second over of Mumbai’s innings, Kamboj had Robin Minz dragging one back onto the stumps before ending Hardik’s stuttering stay in the 20th over. He also bowled 12 dot balls.

As for left-arm wrist-spinner Noor, the young Afghan varied his pace a little to induce a mishit from Rickelton. For his second scalp, Noor made use of the flight and a bit of drift to fox Tilak Varma.

The economical Overton, on the other hand, took Dhir’s wicket, with substitute Sarfaraz Khan taking a superb catch at cover.