After so many days of delay due to COVID-19,IPL 2020 season finally back to action on Saturday here in Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni won the first game of IPL 2020 season by 5 wickets with four balls remaining over defending champions Mumbai Indians.
After winning Toss, Super Kings captain MS Dhoni opted to field first.Mumbai Indians managed score 162 for 9 wickets in 20 overs after losing captain Rohit Sharma early in the game just for 12 runs (10 balls).
Saurabh Sunil Tiwary scored game high 42 runs of 31 balls for Indians. South African Wicket-keeper, Q de Kock added 33 runs in 20 balls with the help of 5 boundaries. Other than these two remaining Mumbai batsmen disappointed with their performance today.
Veteran leg spinner Piyush Chawla impresses with ball, his 1/21 in 4 overs helped Super Kings to restrict Mumbai for a such modest total. South African fast bowler Lungisani True-man Ngidi impressed in his debut for Chennai with 3/38 (4 overs).
England’s Sam Curran produced one of best debut performance in IPL, The Lefty bowled exceptionally well (1/28 in 4 overs) before playing match changing cameo with bat. He scored 18 runs in just 6 balls with the help of two big six’s and one four.
While Chasing modest target of 163, Chennai Super Kings off to a bad start, losing both openers Watson (5 runs) and Murali Vijay(1 run) just for six runs on the board in first two overs.
But experienced duo Ambati Rayudu (71 runs of 48 balls, 4 X 6 and 6 X 3) and F du Plessis(58 runs in 44 balls, 4 X 6) studied the ship with 115 run partnership. In the end dismissal of Rayudu in the 16th gave much needed relief for Mumbai. But with not enough runs on the board to defend, the champions started their season with a defeat.
Indian’s ace bowler JJ Bumrah struggled for the night, he gave away 43 runs in just 4 overs for 1 wicket.
Post-Match Comments:
Ambati Rayudu wins first man of the match award of 2020 IPL season.His blistering knock of 71 runs in just 48 balls put Super Kings in commanding position before the righty got out with a superb catch by Chahar.
Man of the Match,Ambati Rayudu:
“Normally we also train in summer. We were really eager. The surface was good. It was doing a bit with the new ball, but once the dew came in, it got easier. We practiced in Chennai and Dubai. That really helped.”
Rohit Sharma, Captain of Mumbai Indians:
“Batsmen didn’t carry on once they got in like Du Plessis and Rayudu did. That’s something we failed to do. But credit to CSK bowlers, they kept us guessing all the time. Something for us to learn. Still early days, but credit to CSK. We all want to start really well, it’s crucial in this tournament to get that balance right. A few things for us to learn from this game, we made mistakes. Hopefully we can rectify those and come back stronger.”
“It was completely different from what we’re used to, having so many people cheer for us at the stadium. But I think IPL did a great Job making sure there was some noise going around the stadium. We’ve got to understand and adapt to the pitches. The pitch got Better towards the end with dew coming. It’s not that we’ve not played at bigger grounds. We’ve got to hit those gaps and make sure we get singles and doubles, it’s not just about hitting the shots. It’s all about understanding what one needs to do.”
MS Dhoni, Captain of Chennai Super Kings:
“It’s a very different, doesn’t feel like a post-match presentation. Overall, liked how we played after a very long time. You want to assess the conditions and give your best. I felt we took time to gauge how to bowl in these conditions. The MI batsmen batted well, they were able to put pressure. Overall plenty of positives, but plenty of areas to improve. Specially with the timing, if you bat second, teams will realize it will swing till the dew comes in. These are the learnings. Overall a very good first game to play and no injuries – most of us are retired.”
“[Experience] does pay off.You need a good mix of youngsters and experience. What really helps youngsters in the IPL is the fact that there are lots of senior players from different countries for 60-70 days.”
“[With] Curran – that’s one thing we haven’t done [experimenting]. At some point of time we need to give Jadeja and somebody like Sam to express themselves. This was the ideal way – one leg spinner, one left arm spinner. We felt it was ideal to intimidate the bowler, a psychological thing – to say he’s been sent to do one job.”
With tonight’s win, Super Kings Dhoni become first captain to reach 100 wins in IPL.
[…] Chennai won the first game by 5 wickets over defending Champions Mumbai Indians on Saturday. The increase in viewership is a welcome sign for IPL and it’s sponsors, but one could argue that “coronavirus restrictions and increase in usage of digital platforms by people contributed to record numbers”. Hopefully the numbers will keep increasing throughout this year’s competition to compensate direct revenue lost due to lack of fans in the stadiums. […]