The Indian Premier League [IPL] kicked off its eleventh edition with reigning champions—Mumbai Indians locking horns against two-time Indian Premier League winners, Chennai Super Kings.

The home team led by Rohit Sharma were looking to retain their pride by starting off with a win. Chennai, on the other hand, finished a two-year exile and were hungry for a remarkable comeback.

Winning the toss at Wankhede Stadium, Chennai Super Kings elected to bat first. Mumbai Indians registered a total of 165 runs for 4 wickets.

Three good innings of 40-odd runs from each of Ishan Kishan, SuryaKumar Yadav, and Krunal Pandya did the job for Mumbai in the 1st innings. Now, the onus is on the bowlers to defend the total for the hosts. Krunal remained unbeaten on 41 alongside his brother, Hardik Pandya, who made 22 runs. 

Among the Chennai bowlers Shane Watson scalped a wicket. Deepak Chahar and Imran Tahir also got a wicket each but Harbhajan Singh could not manage to take any wickets after bowling 2 overs against his former team.

Chennai did not have a good as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Hardik Pandya and Mayank Markande bagged 3 wickets apiece, Mustafizur Rahman also joined the hunt along with Jasprit Bumrah and Mitchell McClenaghan.

However, a 41-run 9^th wicket partnership off 15 deliveries between Kedar Jadav and Dwayne Bravo emerged as a match-defining stand and turned things around in Chennai’s favor.

Bravo clubbed 68 off 30 before returning to the pavilion. Kedar remained not out on 24 and cruised his team to victory.

 

Scores:

MI – 165/4 (20 overs)

CSK – 169/9 (19.5 overs)