Mumbai Indians stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav admitted they were 15-20 runs short after a four-wicket loss against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai in their season’s opener on Sunday.
The visitors posted an under-par score of 155 runs on the board after Ruturaj Gaikwad decided to bowl first. The tourists got off to a horrid start as their former captain Rohit Sharma was dismissed without troubling the scorers. Ryan Rickelton was looking good but he chopped the ball back onto his stumps against Khaleel Ahmed.
MI’s woes manifolded in the Powerplay overs as Will Jacks was dismissed by Ravichandran Ashwin. In the middle overs, Afghanistan spinner Noor Ahmad showed his class, taking 4-18 in his quota of four overs. Ahmad accounted for Suryakumar Yadav, Naman Dhir, Robin Minz, and Tilak Varma.
Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma got off to starts for Mumbai Indians but could not convert them into substantial scores.
On the other hand, Rachin Ravindra and Ruturaj Gaikwad scored 65 and 53 runs respectively to help their team get over the line in the run-chase of 156.
Suryakumar Yadav said in the post-match presentation, “Absolutely. We were 15-20 runs short but the fight the boys showed was commendable.”
SKY lauded Vignesh Puthur, who made an impressive IPL debut and returned with figures of 3-32. Puthur was playing his first match at the top level and has not even played for Kerala’s senior team.
SKY added, “Amazing, MI is known for that – giving youngsters opportunities, the scouts do this for 10 months and he (Vignesh) is a product of that. I kept his one over in the pocket if the game went deep, but it was a no-brainer to give him the 18th over. There wasn’t any dew, but it was sticky, the way Ruturaj batted in the second innings took the game away from us. It is a long way away.”
Mumbai Indians will next take on Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Saturday.
