Mumbai, (Asian independent) Rohit Sharma struck a valiant century, his second in 17 years of Indian Premier League, but his effort went in vain as Mumbai Indians lost to Chennai Super Kings by 20 runs in Match 29 of IPL 2024 at Wankhede Stadium, here on Sunday.
Rohit hammered an unbeaten 105 off 63 balls, completing his century off 61 deliveries but his superb knock studded with 11 boundaries and five sixes was not enough as CSK ended Mumbai Indians’ two-match winning streak to leave them at four points from six matches as they take to the road for their next few matches.
It was Super Sunday, not for the hosts but for the visitors as they rode on brilliant half-centuries by Ruturaj Gaikwad (69) and Shivam Dube (66 not out) and a sensational four-ball 20 by Mahendra Singh Dhoni to post a challenging 206/4 in 20 overs. CSK then rode on a superb 4-28 by Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who came in as an Impact Substitute, to restrict Mumbai Indians to 186/6 in 20 overs.
Rohit and Ishan Kishan shared another superb partnership to give Mumbai a good start as they raced to 63 runs in the Power-play.
Kishan started aggressively as he hit a four off Tushar Deshpande’s second delivery and followed that up with a six and four back-to-back off Shardul Thakur in the third over. Mustafizur Rahman got struck for a four too and though Ravindra Jadeja kept him quiet,
Matheesha Pathirana, who came in as an Impact Substitute, struck off his first delivery, as Kishan hit a full-length delivery on his pads straight to Shardul Thakur at midwicket for a regulation catch. Kishan scored 23 off 15 balls, hitting three fours and a six, to leave Mumbai at 70/1 in the eighth over.
Mumbai’s Impact Substitute Suryakuamr Yadav, who had blasted a 17-ball half-century in the previous match against RCB, went back for a two-ball duck, an uppercut off a short and wide delivery with extra pace was caught superbly by Mustafizur at the deep third-man boundary. From 70 for no loss, MI were down to 70/2 in three deliveries.
But Rohit Sharma continued with his brilliant batting, punishing the bowlers with trademark power-hitting as he raced to his half-century off 30 balls, hitting seven boundaries and two maximums. The India captain started with a four off his Mumbai teammate Deshpande off the fifth ball of his first over and meted out the same treatment to Mustafizur Rahman in the next over. Deshpande was knocked out of the ground with a fine pull while Mustafizur was treated to a four and six off successive deliveries in the fifth over, the massive six landing on the roof of the stadium.
Rohit also hammered Shadrul Thakur and Ravindra Jadeja for a couple of boundaries each before blasting a four and six off Jadeja, Deshpande adding insult to the injury by dropping a slog-sweep over the boundary rope for the six.
He and Tilak Varma added 60 runs for the third-wicket partnership before Varma got out for a 20-ball 31 studded with five boundaries. Pathirana, who came into the side as an Impact substitute after an injury break, was brought into the attack and made an impact by removing Varma, with a slower one pitched on the back of the length that was hit straight to Thakur for a tumbling catch at mid-off.
With the run rate mounting, Mumbai lost the plot in the death overs as Shardul Thakur and Tushar Deshpande bowled excellent overs, conceding three and two runs respectively
Hardik Pandya, who was hammered for a hat-trick of sixes by MS Dhoni in the final over, made his day worse by scoring two runs off six balls while Tim David could manage only 13 off six.
Rohit continued to score briskly from the other end, hitting Mustafizur Rahman a couple of lusty blows, including a six as he completed his century off 61 balls, hitting Pathirana for back-to-back boundaries in the final over.
Romario Shepherd was bowled by Pathirana for one run, leaving Mumbai needing 41 runs off 12 balls. A tall ask anyway and they eventually ended on 186/4, losing the match by 20 runs. Rohit Sharma remained not out on 105 but he did not get the support from the other end as Mumbai Indians succumbed to scoreboard pressure and some good bowling in the death overs by Chennai Super Kings. Pathirana was the best bowler of the lot with 4-28 in four overs that broke the back of Mumbai innings.
Though Mumbai Indians outscored CSK in the power play (63 to 48), they could not manage enough runs in the middle and death overs as they fell short. Ironically, their skipper Hardik Pandya had conceded 20 runs off the last four balls to MS Dhoni and they lost by the same margin.
Brief scores: Chennai Super Kings 206/4 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 69, Shivam Dube 66 not out, MS Dhoni 20 not out; Hardik Pandya 2-43) beat Mumbai Indians 186/6 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 105 not out, Tilak Varma 31; Matheesha Pathirana 4-28).