MI vs CSK: Mumbai Indians, who were out of the playoff race, also showed the way out of the tournament to the defending champions Chennai Super Kings in the IPL match played on Thursday. Chennai Super Kings piled up in front of fast bowler Daniel Sams. Mahendra Singh Dhoni played unbeaten innings of 36 runs.
Mumbai won the toss and captain Rohit Sharma decided to bowl first. Mumbai bowled out Chennai for 97 runs in 16 overs, which is Chennai’s second-lowest score in the IPL. The special thing is that even in 2013, Chennai was dismissed by Mumbai for the lowest score of 79 runs. After this, Mumbai won in 14.5 overs and dashed Chennai’s hopes of making it to the playoffs.
Man of the Match: Daniel Sams shook Chennai’s top order.
Sams’s best performance to wreak havoc
Mumbai fast bowler Daniel Sams razed Chennai’s top order and produced the best performance of his IPL career. He sent opener Devon Conway and number three Moeen Ali to the pavilion without opening his account. Rituraj Gaikwad (7) who was in excellent form was also made victim by Sams. Sams took three wickets for 16 runs in 4 overs. Apart from him, fast bowler Riley Meredith and spinner Kumar Karthikeya also took two wickets each.
Chennai out of the playoff for the second time: The team of Chennai Super Kings could not make it to the play-off only for the second time. Earlier, the team Chennai was ranked seventh in 2020.
Birthday Boy Pollard did not find a place in the team
Mumbai made two changes in their playing XI against Chennai. West Indies veteran all-rounders Kieron Pollard and Murugan Ashwin, who was struggling with poor form, were dropped. Interestingly, on Thursday, Pollard celebrated his 35th birthday and on this day he had to look for a way out of the team. Pollard has scored only 144 runs in 11 matches this season. South Africa’s 21-year-old young all-rounder Tristan Stubbs made his league debut.
Till the end, only captain Dhoni stood strong
Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni played unbeaten innings of 36 runs for Chennai. He hit four fours and two sixes while playing 33 balls. Apart from him, other batsmen were disappointed and no one could support Dhoni. Ambati Rayudu and Shivam Dubey could not play big innings in the middle order.
Series with South Africa: Team India may be announced for five T20 matches on May 25
The selectors worried about injury and poor form. Injuries to many Indian players and poor form of many players in IPL 15 have given sleepless nights to the national selectors. Team India has to play a home series of five T20 matches with South Africa from June 9. According to a report, the meeting of the selection committee for this will be held in Mumbai on 23 May while the team will be announced on 25 May. At the same time, on June 4, all the players will be gathered at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.