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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by three wickets during their bottom-of-the-table clash at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday. Chasing a total of 156, the Mumbai bowlers had the match in their hands before an inspired MS Dhoni led the side to victory on the final ball, their second win of the season.
However, before Dhoni's heroics, CSK's left-arm medium-pacer Mukesh Choudhary was their star bowler, picking up three wickets for just 19 runs, notching an economy rate of 6.30. Speaking after the match, Mukesh said, "I never thought I'd play cricket. Was at boarding school in Pune, we had an hour's sports period and I used to play all kinds of sports there. Tried playing cricket and seemed to be good at it."
Mukesh scalped the wickets of the Mumbai openers Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma, with both batters returning to the pavilion for a duck. After Rohit's two-ball duck against CSK, he now has the most ducks in the history of the IPL. Thursday's Player-of-the-Match Mukesh explained that there is no pressure bowling in the powerplay as he understands his role in the team.
"Have to bowl well in the powerplay where I'm supposed to bowl three overs. There is no pressure actually, to play with such big players around you automatically takes all the pressure away. I just want to have a good time and enjoy myself,' the 25-year-old explained.
Mukesh's performance also earned praise from his skipper Ravindra Jadeja who said at the post-match press conference, "Yes, he (Mukesh) has bowled well upfront and done well for us in the powerplay. If you aren't winning games, you still want to be calm."
After another top-order collapse for MI, Suryakumar Yadav scored 32 off 21 balls and Tilak Varma hit an unbeaten 51 off 31 balls as the five-time IPL champions notched a meagre total to chase down. Although their bowlers Daniel Sams and Jaydev Unadkat brought the game close, Dhoni hit a four on the last ball to seal the victory.
Chennai's win boosted the team's confidence but did not do much for their place in the points table as they look for a late resurgence after a slow start to the season. They have two wins in seven matches and will need to win all the remaining matches to stand a chance of moving into the playoff spots.
