Only fair to remind our readers that the season is just two-days old and we have lots more on offer coming up in the next few days. Delhi Capitals to take on Lucknow Super Giants in the city of destiny, Vizag. Should be a cracker. Do remember to check this space for all the latest in cricket. Until next time, it's a goodbye from Raju Peethala on behalf of Akshay Maanay, Ramakrishan MS and our extremely hardworking scoring duo of Mukesh and Harish. Hope you had a wonderful weekend folks. Feet up!!
A convincing win to start their campaign at home. Fastest IPL fifty for their skipper. Four-for Noor. An impressive stumping from MSD and his two-ball undefeated stay of course. CSK fans could not have asked for a better opener in Chepauk. At the end of it all, Vignesh Puthur (IPL debutant from Kerala) getting an appreciatory tap on the shoulder from Dhoni will remain on top of the highlights reel. As for MI, they continue to uphold their not-so-famous tradition of losing their opening game. Believe it or not, it is their 13th successive loss in the opening game.
Noor Ahmad | Player of the Match: It feels special to play here in the IPL. Happy for the team and happy with the contribution. The focus was to land the ball in the right area and the wicket of Surya was special and the stumping from MSD was out of the world. Feels great to have someone like Mahi bhai behind the stumps, it is a great support for me.
Ruturaj Gaikwad | CSK skipper: Happy to be on the winning side, loved to have been more clinical but that is how the game goes. That is the requirement of the team (talking about the move to bat at three) and that gives the team more balance and I am really happy to change my position. The spinners were right on point and right after the auction, one thing we were really excited was all those three spinners bowling in tandem at Chepauk. Khaleel is experienced and Noor is an X factor and that is why we wanted him in the team and good to have Ash as well. He (Dhoni) is more fitter this year and he is still looking young.
- Mumbai Indians lose its 13th consecutive opening game of a season. The last time MI won their opening match of a season was way back in 2012. - Since second leg of IPL 2021, CSK have won six of the seven H2H games against MI.
Suryakumar Yadav: Absolutely. We were 15-20 runs short but the fight the boys showed was commendable. Amazing, MI is known for that - giving youngsters opportunities, the scouts do this for 10 months and he (Vignesh) is a product of that. I kept his one over in the pocket if the game went deep, but it was a no brainer to give him the 18th over. There wasn't any dew, but it was sticky, the way Ruturaj batted in the second innings took the game away from us. It is a long way away.
Rachin Ravindra: Mumbai made it difficult for us, bowled nice lengths and choked us a little in the middle but having power at the backend helped. We don't know what to expect (from the pitch). Rutu was amazing, he struck it at 200 without really trying. It has been alright, it was a freak accident (getting hit on the head during the tri-series in Pakistan), I am grateful to the New Zealand staff. It did not have much turn but it was sticky, the lengths they bowled made it difficult for us.
23:07 local, 17:37 GMT:
19.1
Santner to Ravindra, SIX, to deep mid-wicket
Mitchell Santner [2.0-0-18-0] is back into the attack
Santner to bowl the final over...
18.6
Naman Dhir to Dhoni, no run, quicker on the stumps
18.5
Naman Dhir to Dhoni, no run
MS Dhoni, right handed bat, comes to the crease
18.4
Naman Dhir to Jadeja, out Jadeja Run Out!! Jadeja run out (Chahar/Rickelton) 17(18) [4s-1]
Naman Dhir to Jadeja, THATS OUT!! Run Out!!
18.3
Naman Dhir to Jadeja, no run, goes wide of the crease and bowls it fuller outside off, Jadeja plays the reverse again and finds the fielder at backward point
18.2
Naman Dhir to Jadeja, no run, fuller on off stump, driven back to the bowler
18.1
Naman Dhir to Jadeja, 2 runs, fired quicker and flatter just outside off