Mumbai Indians
Photo Credit: BCCI/IPL.

Defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI) rode on a brilliant fifty from their skipper Rohit Sharma – to thump table-toppers Chennai Super Kings convincingly by eight wickets and get back to winning ways.

Chasing 170, Mumbai Indians were off to a decent start. Their opening pair of Suryakumar Yadav and Evin Lewis did not make a blazing start but made sure that the team shake-off the early jitters.

They mixed caution with aggression to lay the foundation for an easy chase. The duo added 67 runs for the first-wicket before Harbhajan Singh broke the stand in the tenth over.

The veteran off-spinner Harbhajan accounted for Yadav to give the Super Kings the much-needed breakthrough.

The wicket, however, did not bring any respite for the hosts as Lewis and Sharma went on to stitch a big stand, thus putting Mumbai well on the victory path.

The duo relied more on singles and doubles and hit the occasional boundaries to keep Mumbai in a hunt. The defending champions reached the three-digit mark in the 13th over when Lewis hit his compatriot Dwayne Bravo for a four. At the end of the 15th over, the score was 123 for one.

The match then turned on its head when Bravo accounted for Lewis. With runs hard to come by on the track, dismissing a well-settled Lewis brought Super Kings right into the game.

But, Rohit took the onus from thereon and scored an unbeaten fifty – to take his team home with four balls remaining.

Earlier in the game, Suresh Raina came up with his best performance of this season to help Super Kings post a challenging 169 for five in the allotted 20 overs.

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The southpaw Raina played an unbeaten knock of 75, helping his side finish on a strong note.

Sent in to bat first, the Super Kings were off to a shaky start. Their in-form opener Shane Watson returned to the pavilion after scoring just 12. Krunal Pandya provided Indians with the early breakthrough.

However, Ambati Rayudu, fresh off his 82-run knock against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the last game, made sure that Mumbai does not take command. He picked the occasional boundaries to help Super Kings finish the powerplay on 51 for one.

The right-handed batsman along with =Raina steadied the ship and thus laid the foundation for a good total. The duo added 71 runs for the second-wicket before Pandya struck again, dismissing Rayudu for 46. Super Kings soon entered the three digits in the 13th over.

In addition, with Mumbai keeping things tight, the Super Kings were finding it tough to score at a good pace. At the end of the 15th over, the score was 115 for two with Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the middle.

However, with just five overs remaining, the duo started taking their chances.

In the 16th over, Dhoni hit leg-spinner Mayank Markande for a four and a six to collect 14 runs. But just when it looked the duo would start taking the attack to the opposition, Mitchell McClenaghan broke the 46-run stand by dismissing Dhoni for 26.

One run later, the Kiwi pacer struck again, dismissing the dangerous Dwayne Bravo to reduce Chennai to 144 for four.

In the meantime, Raina reached his fifty off 35 deliveries against Mumbai Indians.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the innings:

https://twitter.com/MenInBlueDvotee/status/990285292488876032

https://twitter.com/BCCI_Men/status/990255703372660736

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