IPL 2019 | Meme Report : MS Dhoni-less CSK lose their first home game of season against MI

04/27/2019

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Chennai Super Kings failed to chase down the target of 156 runs in 20 overs against Mumbai Indians in the absence of their leader MS Dhoni at the Chepauk this evening. Rohit Sharma (67) led front for the visitors before their bowlers ran through the CSK batting line-up that looked weak without MSD.

Chennai Super Kings won the toss and elected to field first against Mumbai Indians today. But, the crowd at the Chidambaram Stadium were sad to see Suresh Raina coming out for the toss as MS Dhoni missed today’s game due to fever. Two more changes in the CSK unit saw Ravindra Jadeja and Faf Du Plessis not being a part of the home team.

The Indians didn’t have a great start to their innings as they lost the wicket of Quinton de Kock in the third over. They could have been more troubled in the last over of the powerplay period when Evin Lewis edged the last ball of Harbhajan Singh’s third over. However, Rayudu, who stood behind the stumps in the absence of MSD, took the catch but didn’t appeal. None of the other CSK players went for an appeal either as Lewis got a lucky reprieve. The Carribean ended up scoring 32 off 30 deliveries before getting out in the 13th over.

It was a night for the captain of the visiting team to shine with the bat as Rohit Sharma, after getting out in 40s on a couple of occasions this IPL, finally managed to score a half-century against the Super Kings today. Rohit looked in a sublime touch scoring 67 off just 48 deliveries and led from the front.

Rohit not only toyed with the Chennai bowlers today but also made Dhruv Shorey run around the field as well. Soon after getting to his fifty in the 15th over, the MI skipper started Imran Tahir’s last over with a couple of boundaries. Interestingly, both the shots went towards the mid-wicket region and Dhruv Shorey couldn’t stop any of them. The over came to an end with a maximum from Rohit’s bat and this time Shorey was a mere spectator as the ball went sailing over him.

After the dismissal of the MI skipper, things slowed down for the visitors and they finally ended up with 155/4 in 20 overs with Hardik Pandya (23) and Kieron Pollard (13) getting some runs towards the end overs.

Bonus Meme: Rayudu's 4D performance!

Chasing a target of 156, the hosts were off to a terrible start as they lost the wickets of Shane Watson and Suresh Raina inside the first four overs. Raina was leading the team in the absence of Dhoni and managed to score only two in the run-chase while batting at three.

After Watson and Raina’s fall, CSK didn’t stabilise and kept losing wickets at regular intervals and the chase just got difficult. The comeback man Murali Vijay stuck at one end but lacked support from others. Ambati Rayudu and Kedar Jadhav were terrible in the middle-order as they were picked up by Krunal Pandya for 0 and 6 respectively. Delhi batsman Dhruv Shorey also failed to put up an impressive show for the Men in Yellow and returned to the hut after scoring 5.

CSK BATSMEN TODAY:

via GIPHY

With the well-set batsman Vijay getting out for 38 off 35 in the 12th over of the innings, CSK lost its way completely with only all-rounders to follow. Vijay, in his come back game this evening, looked good but wickets kept tumbling at the other end.

With CSK in troubled waters, the umpire came to their rescue with a wrong decision in the 14th over of the innings. Hardik Pandya’s foot was clearly inside the crease but the umpire signalled a no ball which gave a Free Hit opportunity to Bravo that the West Indian struck for four. Eventually, Bravo got out in the 16th over for 20 and Mitchell Santner was also picked up by Lasith Malinga to wrap things up for the Chennai team. Mumbai Indians won by 46 runs and broke the home record of the Super Kings this season with a huge victory.

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