Going into Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 150th Indian Premier League match as skipper, Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians were at at opposite ends of the spectrum. CSK were the table toppers and Mumbai were scraping the bottom of the table.
You didn’t need to be a genius to figure out which side would be more desperate coming into the match. For Mumbai, every match is a final from this point on. They have no option but to bring their ‘A’ game to the table each time they step on to the field. Chennai, on the other hand, could afford to take it easy.
In the end, the result of the match came down to the differing mindset but here’s a look at the major turning points in the game:
The first stumble
After 10 overs, CSK were 91-1. In a sense, with all their big-hitters to come, they were cruising. A big total would have put immense pressure on MI but instead, the visitors responded with three wonderful overs to turn things very quickly indeed.
By the end of the 13th over, CSK had added just 9 runs to their total and lost the vital wicket of Ambati Rayudu. It meant, CSK had to start over and in a T20 innings that is never a good thing.
The manner in which Dhoni played dot ball after dot ball from Jasprit Bumrah early in his innings was also surprising given that his team was already off to a blazing start.
In the end, Chennai were 10-15 runs short of where they would have liked to be at the end of the innings and it probably came down to this period when Mitch McClenaghan, Krunal Pandya and Bumrah were superb with the ball.
The second stumble
After 10 overs in their innings, MI were 71-1. Suryakumar Yadav had just been dismissed. The other opener, Evin Lewis, wasn’t exactly feeling it and skipper Rohit Sharma had just come out to bat. This could not have been an easy situation to be in – given that the season was on the line.
That’s where Shane Watson rode in to MI’s rescue with an over that kick-started Rohit into action. The MI skipper can sometimes take a bit to get going but once he does, he is a hard man to stop. By bowling full and straight, Watson allowed the right-hander to hit the first ball for a one-handed six and then was swept for another six two balls later.
Suddenly, there was hope for Mumbai.
The third and final stumble
This one, though, was all on the CSK skipper. It came down to the bowling choices. With three overs to go, MI needed 37 to win off 18 balls. And Dhoni decided to go with Watson, Shardul Thakur and Imran Tahir – in that order. Turned out, by the time the last over came into the picture, Bravo, CSK’s best death over bowler, was not even needed.
Watson has a bad habit of bowling length deliveries. He did that earlier in the innings and he did it again. He was taken for 15 runs by Hardik Pandya and Rohit. If Mumbai were looking for momentum, they got it here.
Then, came the big decision. 22 needed off 12. Everyone thought Dhoni would throw the ball to Bravo, but instead he chose Shardul. It was a surprising decision because the 26-year-old doesn’t have the control or the variations that Bravo possesses. Carnage followed as the medium pacer was taken for 17 runs – including 4 fours – in the over.
It pretty much finished the game off. If this was supposed to be an educational experience, then that is exactly what it turned out to be.
“Losses like these make you humble,” said Dhoni after the game. “If you keep winning, you don’t know the areas you’ve to work hard. It’s a good game, gives us an idea of what we should do in such situations: whether we need to score 20 runs more. It’s still early in the competition.”
