Gaikwad Star In Chennai's 20 Run Win Over Mumbai In IPL 2021's 2nd Leg Opener

Ruturaj Gaikwad smashed 88 to set up Chennai Super Kings'(CSK) 20-run win over defending champions Mumbai Indians(MI) in the 30th match of the IPL 2021 in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. 

Chasing a tricky total of 157, MI lost three wickets inside the powerplay - Quinton de Kock, debutant Anmolpreet Singh, and Suryakumar Yadav - and could only score 41. With the wicket getting slower and tougher to play shots, Mumbai kept losing wickets in regular intervals. 

Saurabh Tiwary however, kept ticking runs from one end to keep MI's hopes alive but couldn't find a partner. Adam Milne added 40 runs with Tiwaryfor the seventh wicket that took the game close but not so close as Mumbai fell short by 20 runs. 

Chennai bowlers made full use of the conditions and used variations correctly. Dwayne Bravo picked three wickets, Deepak Chahar got two, while Josh Hazlewood and Shardul Thakur scalped one wicket each. 

Earlier, MI's regular skipper Rohit Sharma missed out due to niggle as Kieron Pollard came out for the toss against MS Dhoni. CSK won the toss and opted to bat first. 

Trent Boult and Milne triggered a top-order collapse as Chennai got reduced to 24/4, effectively 24/5 as Ambati Rayudu got hit on the elbow and was retired hurt, inside the powerplay. 

Gaikwad and Ravindra Jadeja stitched an 81 run partnership to revive the innings. Jadeja scored 26 off 33, while at the other end, Gaikwad kept finding boundaries regularly. 

Bravo helped Gaikwad in finishing the innings on a high with his 8-ball-23 cameo. Gaikwad slog-swept Bumrah for a six on the last ball as CSK finished on 156/6. 

Scorecard: 

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Chennai Super Kings - 156/6 (Ruturaj Gaikwad - 88*, Adam Milne - 2/21)
Mumbai Indians - 136/8 (Saurabh Tiwari - 50*, Dwayne Bravo - 3/25)