Mumbai Indians was able to post 155 after Chennai Super Kings stand-in skipper Suresh Raina won the toss and decided to bowl first. The visitors did not get off to a good start as they lost their in-form batsman Quinton de Kock early in the innings. The southpaw batsman was bamboozled by Deepak Chahar’s slower delivery when he played too early.
However, Evin Lewis, who was playing his first match of the season was able to get some runs under his belt. The left-hander took seven balls to get off the mark. Lewis and Rohit Sharma added 75 runs for the second wicket before the former could not distance against Mitchell Santner.
Difficult pitch again.
Dwayne Bravo took a simple catch and Lewis was dismissed after scoring 30-ball 32. On the other hand, Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma his first fifty off the season of 37 balls to roar back into form. In fact, Rohit Sharma was able to get a fifty after 17 innings in the Indian Premier League.
Krunal Pandya was promoted to the number four position in place of Suryakumar Yadav. However, the southpaw batsman could not clear the fence against Imran Tahir.
Hardik Pandya came to bat after the fall of his elder brother. However, Rohit Sharma could not get the timing right against Mitchell Santner and gave a simple catch to Murali Vijay at long-on.
Furthermore, Hardik Pandya who has batted with the brilliant strike rate in the tournament could not hit the ground running. Pandya and Kieron Pollard had added 45 off just 16 balls when they had batted against CSK in Mumbai, however, Chennai surface was a different ball-game. Both the big hitters could not get their timing right and struggled to get quick runs.
Here is how Twitter reacted to Mumbai Indians’ innings:
https://twitter.com/jay_upadhyay14/status/1121808293272276992
Such a borefest #Cskvmi
— Mon (@4sacinom) April 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/RohitianWorld/status/1121806685717221376
If you want to label CSK vs MI the El Clasico of the IPL, then you must ensure that it is played on a decent pitch too. This is an apology of a pitch. #IPL2019
— Nitin Naik (@toi_nitinnayak) April 26, 2019
17th over, two slips for Kieron Pollard. Hah.
— Vinayakk (@vinayakkm) April 26, 2019
Strange as it may seem, it's been 17 innings since Rohit has hard a half century. #MI are scoring at 7.8 but remember on a similar surface 175 wasn't enough for the Sunrisers.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 26, 2019
Rayudu has donned the gloves in the absence of Dhoni….added another Dimension to his game. ? #CSKvMI #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 26, 2019
Granted, I haven’t watched IPL that much this season but there is something wrong with sending Krunal at 4 and keeping Pollard till 6/7 #CSKvMI
— Sachin Madaan (@sachin_madaan) April 26, 2019
Rohit Sharma got his first fifty today but he has never looked out of form this season. He wasnt looking to play throughout the innings and was just providing good starts. Idk why nobody understands that.#CSKvMI #OneFamily
— Hammad (@chemistryhammad) April 26, 2019
Rohit Sharma and six-hitting. He explores new vistas from an elevated level that mere mortals like us can't see #CSKvMI #IPL2019
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) April 26, 2019
First fifty for Rohit Sharma since April 2018 (56* Vs CSK)
— JSK (@imjsk27) April 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/Matrix80832176/status/1121806836242378752
not sure who will win, pretty sure we are looking at a near or past midnight finish #CSKvMI
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 26, 2019
https://twitter.com/gulshanabadking/status/1121806723516256257