Mumbai Indians won the first qualifier against defending champions convincingly by six wickets. The visitors came up with a fine performance as they ticked the right boxes. Rahul Chahar bowled a brilliant spell as he scalped two wickets to restrict CSK to 131. Subsequently, Suryakumar Yadav played a fine knock of 71 runs to help his side book IPL final berth
Turning Point of Match:
CSK batters could never get going in their batting innings as they lost three early wickets. It was a minefield of a pitch and the hosts could never get the momentum in their innings. Furthermore, Suryakumar Yadav played a fine knock to help his side get into the final.
IPL 2019: Mumbai Indians innings:
Mumbai Indians could not get off to a good start in their run-chase. The visitor’s skipper Rohit Sharma was plumbed in front by Deepak Chahar after conceding a first ball boundary. Moreover, Quinton de Kock made room for himself but found Faf du Plessis at long-off.
Subsequently, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav batted with maturity. Both the batsmen played grounded shots as there was no pressure of the required run-rate. In fact, there was a chance for Murali Vijay in the fifth over of the innings. Suryakumar Yadav was only on 11 runs and had hit the ball in the air. However, Vijay who was fielding at mid-on could not hang on to the chance.
The drop proved costly for the defending champions Suryakumar Yadav completed his 7th IPL fifty. Ishan Kishan played against his natural game and gave good support to Yadav. The pair added a fine alliance of 80 runs for the third wicket before the southpaw was cleaned up by Imran Tahir.
Krunal Pandya gave return catch to Imran Tahir to be dismissed for a golden duck and the leg-spinner completed his 300 wickets in the IPL.
Furthermore, Suryakumar Yadav gave another chance to Shane Watson soon after completing his fifty. However, the veteran Australian could not hold to a difficult chance which was created by Ravindra Jadeja.
IPL 2019: Chennai Super Kings innings:
Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first in the first qualifier against Mumbai Indians. However, the hosts could not get off to a good start as Faf du Plessis was taken by substitute Anmolpreet Singh when the South African went for the wide delivery against Rahul Chahar.
Subsequently, the in-form Suresh Raina top-edged against Jayant Yadav and the off-spinner took a simple return catch. Furthermore, Shane Watson could his time his pull to perfection and Jayant Yadav took a good catch while running back. Thus, Chennai Super Kings could only get 32 runs in the first six overs and lost three crucial wickets.
Meanwhile, Murali Vijay and Ambati Rayudu added 33 runs for the fourth wicket but the former was flummoxed by Rahul Chahar. The leg-spinner invited the drive and the right-hander went for the bait to give a simple stumping chance to Quinton de Kock. Chahar was the pick of the Mumbai Indians bowlers as he scalped two wickets and gave away only 14 runs in his four overs quota.
Chennai required big shots to get to a par score. However, it was always a difficult pitch to bat on as it was turning square. Ambati Rayudu scored 42 runs from 37 balls with the help of three fours and one six. On the other hand, MS Dhoni played a crucial knock of 37 runs from 29 balls with the help of three maximums.
Krunal Pandya and Jayant Yadav also scalped one wicket each for Mumbai Indians.
