IPL 2020: CSK chases down MI in the season opener | Dhoni's 100th win as CSK skipper
In the season opener of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) chases down Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis's half-century played a vital role for CSK to beat MI by five wickets. The CSK's victory in the season opener also marks as Dhoni's 100th win as CSK skipper.
MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first. The Mumbai Indians (MI) were given a spectacular start by the openers Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock. CSK's Piyush Chawla took the crucial wicket of Rohit Sharma. After the fall of Quinton de Kock's wicket, Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary steered the flow of the match for the MI. The performance of the rest of the batting lineup remained subpar with Mumbai Indians finishing their innings at 162/9.
Lungi Ngidi, Ravindra Jadeja, and Deepak Chahar shined for CSK through their wicket-taking spells after a sublime start. Lungi Ngidi took 3 wickets while Chahar & Jadeja took 2 wickets each in the game.
CSK started off in a really bad position with them losing Shane Watson and Murali Vijay in the early by the spells from Trent Boult and James Pattinson. At 6/2, Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis held the ground together for the CSK through their astounding partnership in the game. Ambati Rayudu smashed off a fiery 48-ball 71 runs knock in the revenge taking opener match. Faf du Plessis's 58 runs off 44 balls secured the win for the CSK against the defending champions. Sam Curran's blockbuster debut for the CSK also grabbed eyeballs with his fiery knocks, although he lost his wicket after playing 6 balls. Dhoni came to the crease but only got to play 2 balls with zero runs as Plessis finished the game with a match-winning four.
