Chennai Super Kings new recruit Noor Ahmad said the plan was to land the ball in the right area against Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai in the team’s opener of IPL 2025 on Sunday after their four-wicket win.
CSK got off to a solid start as they struck thrice in the Powerplay overs. Ahmad was then able to make the most of the spin-friendly conditions as he got the big wicket of Suryakumar Yadav, who was well-settled at the crease. The Afghanistan then dismissed Robin Minz and plumbed Tilak Varma in front of the wickets.
Ahmad then accounted for Naman Dhir and returned with impressive figures of 4-18 in his quota of four overs. The left-arm spinner played a key role in restricting MI to 155-9 and thus bagged the Player of the Match award.
Noor Ahmad said in the post-match presentation, “It feels special to play here in the IPL. Happy for the team and happy with the contribution. The focus was to land the ball in the right area and the wicket of Surya was special and the stumping from MSD was out of the world. Feels great to have someone like Mahi bhai behind the stumps, it is a great support for me.”
On the other hand, Rachin Ravindra scored an unbeaten knock of 65 runs to help CSK get over the line in the run-chase of 156. Ravindra also added 67 runs with Ruturaj Gaikwad, who scored a crucial knock of 53 runs off just 26 balls.
Ravindra said while talking to the broadcasters after the win, “Mumbai made it difficult for us, bowled nice lengths and choked us a little in the middle but having power at the backend helped. We don’t know what to expect (from the pitch). Rutu was amazing, he struck it at 200 without really trying. It has been alright, it was a freak accident (getting hit on the head during the tri-series in Pakistan), I am grateful to the New Zealand staff. It did not have much turn but it was sticky, the lengths they bowled made it difficult for us.”
Chennai Super Kings will next take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Friday.
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