IPL 2020: CSK restricts MI to 162

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma kick-started an Indian Premier League on rousing note, dispatching the first ball of the 13th edition through the cover region at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Right from the moment captains Rohit and Mahendra Singh Dhoni walked in for the toss, the league had uniqueness written all over it. The duo wasn’t greeted with the ear-splitting noise of a packed stadium. There were no peppy chartbusters playing in the background.

The unusual progress of proceedings was another reminder of the times we are living in. Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings’ skipper, saw the lighter side of things in a typical manner. “With social distancing being very important, I want to ask the umpires if we can have a first-slip fielder or not,” joked the veteran at the toss.

The Covid-19 had expectedly forced the IPL organisers to cancel the traditional glitzy opening ceremony. “We welcome the cricket matches the world has been waiting for. Thanks to the science-based protocols by IPL, all teams will play safely and confidently,” said Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, the Emirates Cricket Board chairman, in his welcome speech.

After Dhoni won the toss and elected to field, the IPL, shrouded in doubt due to the pandemic, finally got underway. At the end of one innings, the defending champions had posted a fighting total of 162/9.

It appeared like Mumbai were running away to a big total with openers Rohit (12) and Quinton de Kock (33) gathering a boundary in every over. The left-handed South African pounced on Lungi Ngidi’s ordinary bowling to hammer three fours as Mumbai reached 45/0 after four overs.

Chennai fought back with a double burst. Rohit’s struggle against leg-spinners stood exposed. In his attempt to lift a Piyush Chawla ball over the mid-off fielder, Rohit miss-timed and offered a simple catch to Sam Curran. In the next over, De Kock perished tamely, hitting a Curran’s (1/28) slower-ball straight to Shane Watson at mid-wicket.

Mumbai went silent in the middle overs courtesy some tight Chennai bowling and a brilliant Faf du Plessis in the deep.

Du Plessis caught Saurabh Tiwary’s (42) slog-sweep at the edge of long-on boundary, lobbed the ball up to put one step outside the rope and then came back to pouch it in the second attempt.

He showed brilliant calmness to dismiss the dangerous Hardik Pandya (14). The South African jumped to pouch Hardik’s big hit at the long-off boundary, lobbed the ball up again to gain balance and took it with ease in his second attempt.

Ngidi (3/38), after a nervy start, came back well to pick up three wickets as the Mumbai's lower-order failed to provide the final push.