Walloped at the Wankhede. The Chennai Super Kings simply annihilated the Mumbai
Indians at their home on Thursday.
Breathtaking performances from Sanju Samson and Akeal Hosein helped the Super Kings romp to a 103- run victory.
After the Super Kings were put into bat, Samson scored an unbeaten 101 to join the likes of Chris Gayle, Hashim Amla and Shane Watson with two hundreds in an IPL season. The keeper-batter’s 54-ball innings, comprising 10 boundaries and six maximums, took CSK to a formidable 207/6.
This Wankhede pitch had some purchase for the bowlers, especially the spinners. Akeal made use of that assistance to come up with a wonderful exhibition of left-arm orthodox spin to finish with 4/17, ensuring Samson’s hard work didn’t go in vain.
With Akeal having an ideal impact as an Impact Player, his spin colleague Noor Ahmad also shone with the key scalps of Mumbai captain Hardik Pandya and Sherfane Rutherford as the home team was bundled out for 104 in 19 overs.
CSK, who were again without the iconic Mahendra Singh Dhoni, are now at No. 5 in the standings following this huge win.
Responsible innings
A bulk of the credit for such a big victory certainly goes to Samson, who played an innings that was truly special, given the conditions on offer. He gave Mumbai’s best bowler of this game, AM Ghazanfar, the respect he deserved. And of course to Jasprit Bumrah as well. But whenever the ball was in his zone, Samson accepted the invitation, unleashing solid aerial strokes and also some superb along-the-ground-stuff to keep CSK’s innings on track.
Dewald Brevis, Kartik Sharma and all-rounder Jamie Overton did provide Samson with some support, but none of them could reach even 25. Samson, though, was hardly bothered as he kept focusing on his own game to keep CSK’s scoring rate at around 10 an over.
A beautiful off-drive early on before a ramp shot in the closing overs — both off Bumrah — were also among Samson’s array of strokes. Going into the 20th over, he was 15 short of his fifth IPL ton. But he picked up the length well to pull and also go inside-out over cover off newcomer Krish Bhagat, smashing two sixes and a four to reach his second century of this IPL.
“The ball was swinging around and holding a bit. After the Powerplay, we kept losing wickets, so it was important for a set batsman to bat through. It’s my responsibility to understand the game,” Samson, adjudged Man of the Match, said.
The Akeal effect
Akeal then made sure it turned out to be CSK’s domination over Mumbai, who suffered their worst defeat in the competition and seem to be feeling the absence of Rohit Sharma, who’s yet to be fit. Focusing primarily on turning the ball and attacking the stumps, Akeal had Mumbai Impact Player Danish Malewar caught behind before cleaning Naman Dhir up with another beauty.
In between, pacer Mukesh Choudhary, who recently lost his mother, dismissed Quinton de Kock. Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma did try to forge a stand. But the latter was outsmarted by Akeal, who later induced a mishit off Surya as well.
The game was as good as over for Mumbai when they could only manage 29/3 after the Powerplay.
Madhwal picked
CSK have roped in Uttarakhand pacer Akash Madhwal as a replacement for the injured Ayush Mhatre, who has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament.
The right-arm quick has so far featured in 17 IPL matches and taken 23 wickets, including a 5/5 in his debut season for Mumbai in 2023.
