Ruturaj Gaikwad led from the front with an unbeaten 67 as Chennai Super Kings hammered fellow IPL giants Mumbai Indians by eight wickets on Saturday to stay in the hunt for the playoffs.
Chennai Super Kings' Ruturaj Gaikwad plays a shot. . Photos by Reuters
In a clash of two teams sharing 10 titles between them, Chennai kept Mumbai, who elected to bat first, down to 159-7 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Captain Gaikwad and Kartik Sharma then put on an unbeaten stand of 98 to steer the team home with 11 balls to spare and bounce back from a big defeat in their previous outing.
Gaikwad anchored the chase and Sharma hit the winning four in his 54 as five-time champions Chennai moved to sixth place in the 10-team table.
"It was about getting a good start and then one of the batters had to go deep," said Gaikwad.
"Feels good to bat till the end. I wanted to make sure to take the team to the end if I got a start."
Mumbai, who have also won the IPL five times and lost their second match to Chennai this season, languish in the ninth spot with seven defeats in nine matches.
"Not the season," said Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya. "They played better, they bowled better, they fielded better and they batted better."
Chennai lost an early wicket but Gaikwad struck his second successive half-century to keep his side on track.
Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah took down Sanju Samson, caught behind for 11, in his first over before Urvil Patel counter-attacked in his 12-ball 24.
Afghanistan spinner A.M. Ghazanfar bowled Patel to raise some hopes for Mumbai, but Gaikwad stood firm to raise his fifty from 34 balls to put Chennai on course.
Opener Gaikwad hit five fours and two sixes in his 48-ball knock and was name player of the match.
The bowlers set up victory as left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad struck two key blows including Ryan Rickelton, for 37, and Tilak Varma, for five, before medium-pace bowler Anshul Kamboj took 3-32.
Noor returned impressive figures of 2-26.
"Noor needed momentum and on wickets like this, he comes into play," said Gaikwad. "He's made adjustments and is doing well."
Naman Dhir top-scored with 57 but struggled to find momentum during his knock and finally fell to England pace bowler Jamie Overton, who claimed 1-23 in his four overs.
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