CHENNAI, India (AP) — Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 67 not out off 48 balls as Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians by eight wickets Saturday in the Indian Premier League.
Impact player Kartik Sharma scored his first IPL half-century — 54 not out off 40 balls — as Chennai eased to 160-2 in 18.1 overs.
That was after Mumbai was restricted to 159-7 despite Naman Dhir’s 57 off 37 balls.
It was a second win for Chennai against Mumbai this season, having beaten them by 103 runs in Mumbai.
Overall, it was Chennai’s fourth win in nine games as it moved to sixth in the points table, ahead of Delhi Capitals on net run-rate.
It was Mumbai’s seventh loss in nine games and it stayed ninth.
Gaikwad, Sharma make things easy for Chennai
Chasing an under-par score, Chennai started badly as Sanju Samson was out caught off Jasprit Bumrah for 11 runs. Gaikwad then added 49 off 22 balls with Urvil Patel (24) for the second wicket. Chennai scored 62-2 in the power play, with Patel out bowled in the sixth over.
It brought Gaikwad and Sharma together, and they were unseparated until the end, adding 98 runs off 75 balls for the third wicket.
Gaikwad didn’t seem to be in any rush, scoring 50 off 34 balls. It was his fourth IPL half-century against Mumbai, averaging 47.5 in 11 innings.
The day belonged to Sharma, as the 20-year-old showed great maturity to score a match-winning half-century.
Sharma hit four fours and three sixes, taking his time initially, and then getting 50 off 39 balls. His previous best was 18 (15 balls) against Rajasthan Royals.
The skipper also hit five fours and two sixes. Sharma hit the winning runs with 11 balls to spare.
“I wanted to stay till the end and finish the run chase,” Sharma said. “The pitch was on the slower side, so I played accordingly.”
Opting to bat, Mumbai lost in-form Will Jacks for one. He was caught off pacer Anshul Kamboj, who picked 3-32 in four overs.
Ryan Rickelton (37) and Dhir added 58 off 32 balls. Mumbai scored 57-1 in the power play.
It wasn’t enough, and Mumbai never got the acceleration right. Noor Ahmad took 2-26 as he had Rickelton out caught in the seventh over and later dismissed Tilak Varma for three.
In between, Suryakumar Yadav was out caught after a brief cameo of 21 off 12 balls, with three fours and a six.
Dhir waged a lone battle, scoring his second half-century of the season, including four fours and three sixes. Even skipper Hardik Pandya struggled to get going in the final overs, scoring 18 off 23 balls.
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