Rohit Sharma scored a maiden half century , as Mumbai Indians defeated the Chennai Super Kings convincingly by 46 runs at M Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Friday.
Chennai Super Kings included Dhruv Shorey, Murali Vijay and Mitchell Santner in place of Faf Du Plessis, Ravi Jadeja and regular skipper MS Dhoni, while Mumbai Indians brought in Evin Lewis and debutant Anukul Roy for Ben Cutting and Mayank Markande.
After being sent in to bat by stand in skipper Suresh Raina, Mumbai Indians opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Quniton De Kock started steadily by adding 24 runs for the opening wicket, before Deepak Chahar broke through by dismissing De Kock for 15.
Evin Lewis playing his first game of the IPL added 75 runs for the second wicket stand, before Santner dismissed the latter for 32.
Krunal Pandya who was promoted up the order to accelerate the scoring rate was caught at deep off Imran Tahir for a single run.
The Mumbai Indians skipper looked good in his innings of 67, before he was caught at long on by Vijay off the 27 year old left arm spinner Santner. His innings comprised of 6 fours and 3 sixes.
Kieron Pollard and Hardik Pandya added an unbeaten 33 runs for the fifth wicket, as the visitors reached a competitive 155/4 in their allotted 20 overs. Mumbai in the last seven overs could muster only 52 runs.
Chasing a target of 156, Chennai started badly as they lost wickets of Shane Watson, Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu cheaply in the powerplay.
Kedar Jadhav’s horror run with the bat continued as he was bowled by Krunal Pandya for 6. Vijay playing his first game of the tournament looked in good touch, before being caught brilliantly by Surya Kumar Yadav off Jasprit Bumrah for a well made 38.
Apart from Dwyane Bravo and Santner none of the other batsman failed to reach double figures, as Chennai were routed for 109 runs in 17.4 overs.
Lasith Malinga was Mumbai Indians best bowler as he claimed 4/37, while Bumrah and Krunal Pandya bagged 2 wickets each.
Rohit Sharma was declared the Man of the Match.
With this win Mumbai move up into the second position, while Chennai despite losing remain at the top.
The 45th Match of the Indian Premier League will be played between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad at Jaipur on 27 April, Saturday.