Sanju Samson and the CSK spinners delivers MI their largest ever defeat
CSK – 207/6 (Sanju Samson 101* off 54 balls) beat MI – 104 all out (Akeal Hosein 17/4 off 4 overs) by 103 runs
Man of the Match: Sanju Samson
The league match between two of the most decorated teams in IPL history turned out to be a damp squib. MI won the toss and decided to field first. A brilliant century from Sanju Samson, his second in this year’s IPL, aided by useful cameos from the other batsmen, helped CSK post a competitive total of 207/6. MI, after a brilliant win in the last match, were back to their usual form this season and could only muster a limp response and lost by a massive 103 runs.
CSK batsmen start with aggression
The CSK batsmen had not been very consistent this year, and with the unavailability of their regular no. 3 batsmen, Ayush Mhatre and the loss of form for captain Ruturaj, their batting looked a bit thin. It was imperative from their point of view that Sanju Samson play a long innings. Ruturaj was the early aggressor and got off to a flyer in Hardik’s first over, which went for 19 runs. By the time he was dismissed in the 3rd over by Ghazanfar for 22 off 14 balls, CSK had scored 32. Hardik was expensive and went for 19 runs in his second and last over, with Samson smashing him to all parts of the ground.
Sarfaraz was the next man in and scored a breezy 14 off 8 balls, before missing a sweep of Santner and getting bowled. By the time the powerplay was done, CSK were 73/2. Shivam Dube was promoted up the order, presumably to go after the spinners, and also to counter the left-arm spinner, but missed a wild slog sweep and got bowled against Ghazanfar. With 3 wickets down, Brevis was the next batsman and he doubled down on the scoring rate. A brilliant straight hit over Santner’s head brought a six and in the same over, another shot over long off brought an even bigger six. At the other end, Samson brought up his half-century off 26 balls, without ever looking like breaking a sweat. Brevis unleashed a powerful pull that raced to the square leg boundary, but could not control his upper cut to a wide short ball on the next delivery, and holed out to third man for an entertaining 21 off 11 balls.
Consolidation and Samson’s century
At 122/4 in 11 overs, CSK realised that they had lost one wicket too many and tried to consolidate. Kartik Sharma, the next batter in, played a couple of absolutely terrific inside-out shots for sixes over extra cover, but was otherwise sedate. He faced the 17th over bowled by Bumrah and could not score off three accurate yorkers. On the fourth ball, off a full toss on the legs, he swung hard only to see Santner hold on to a brilliant diving catch. He was dismissed for 18 off 19 balls. Santner looked hurt and seemed to have injured his left shoulder and had to leave the field after the catch. Next batsman was Overtone, and he played the entire 17th over from Ashwani, hitting two fours and a six, and was dismissed on the last ball of the over for 15 off 7 balls.
Samson was the constant through the entire CSK innings and batted with the calmness that has come to be associated with his batting recently. His straight hits and pulls are always a thing of beauty, but what stood out are his deft touches against the pacers as he guided the ball with open face towards third man or the leg glances at long leg boundary. Amongst all the powerful hits, the shot of the match for him would be the scoop off a yorker-length delivery from Bumrah for a one-bounce boundary over fine leg. He got hold of Krish Bhagat and took 15 runs off his first over, and when Krish came back to bowl the last over, he plundered 16 runs, all the while farming the strike. Samson finished the innings with a pull to the square leg boundary to finish at 101 off 54 balls, and CSK were 207/6.
Among the MI bowlers, Ghazanfar bowled brilliantly to get 2 wickets in 4 overs, while giving away only 25 runs. Other than him and Bumrah, all the other bowlers were taken apart, and the CSK total looked quite imposing on this pitch that had something for the spinners.
MI in early trouble
The big total required a good start from the openers, but after a six by De Kock off the second ball of the innings, things began to unravel. Danish Malewar had his second consecutive poor match as he was dismissed caught behind off a flighted ball from Akeal Hosein for a first-ball duck. De Kock played on to his stumps off a length ball from Mukesh Choudhary, who was coming into the match from a deep personal loss of his mother recently.
Akeal had been known as a powerplay specialist who relied more on his arm ball, but on this day, after having a look at the pitch, tried giving more flight and turn with his left arm spin. Naman Dhir, with some decent form behind him, tried to go for an ungainly swing off a faster ball from Akeal spinning away and was bowled neck and crop to be dismissed for a 3-ball duck. Naman left the pitch with a befuddled look on his face.
Match slips away from MI
At 11/3 off 3 overs, with Tilak and Suryakumar at the crease, the match was quickly slipping away from MI’s grasp. The CSK bowlers had their tails up and bowled with a plan. Suryakumar was hit twice in three deliveries by Kamboj while going for his scoop shot. The first time he was hit on the right elbow and the second time right at the box. Mukesh’s fourth over brought 16 runs, but the overall scoring was quite slow and the match was always under CSK’s control. Tilak had started to get his timing, but his cross-batted swipe ended with him chopping the ball onto his stumps. Noor, bowling from the other end, had Hardik going for an ungainly slog across to top edge the ball to short third. Next ball, Rutherford swung at a wide full ball straight to deep cover, kept for that exact shot, and MI were down and out at 87/6 after 13 overs. The asking rate had climbed to 17.28. The spinners were weaving their web around the MI batters, and they had no answers. Akeal came back to dismiss Suryakumar to finish with 17/4 off 4 overs. His spin bowling partner, Noor Ahmad, managed 23/2 off 4 overs.
The 4 CSK pacers all got a wicket each and MI’s innings folded up for 104. Their 103-run loss was their biggest ever defeat in the IPL. There have been losses this season, but the margin of this loss should be quite concerning for them. They were thoroughly outplayed, and at no stage of the match did it look as if they might have a chance. For CSK, a season that began disastrously had been salvaged, with them having reached the top half of the table rankings. Wins in the next few matches would be required, though, to keep the momentum going.