CSK vs MI Highlights, IPL 2023: Pathirana, Chahar, Deshpande star as Chennai Super Kings defeat Mumbai Indians

Full toss on middle from Theekshana, Suryakumar just beats the extra cover fielder and sends it to the boundary. Brings up the 50 partnership.

Fairly good partnership mushrooming between these two, it has gone into the 40s. MI also go past the 50-run mark. The cameras have shown Rohit Sharma and he still looks a little baffled, probably thinking exactly what is it that made him think attempting that shot was a good idea. He now has the most ducks in the history of the IPL. 

Wadhera is on 8 off 11, Suryakumar on 13 off 9. There needs to be a big partnership between these two for MI to put up a challenging total for CSK to chase. Talk about bad powerplays, MI have probably had among the worst any team has had this season. And it is in the middle-over phase that CSK's spinners have tended to choke up the batters. 

Yes, MI fans, he is still out there. In fact MI's top order hasn't really performed in this recent spate of wins that they have had so it is not really too dire a situation yet. Suryakumar pulls Deshpande's fourth ball of the fifth over over deep backward square and it reaches the boundary no problem.

Wadhera pulls the second ball of the fifth from Chahr to deep square leg after getting on top of the bounce. That races away to the boundary.

Second consecutive duck and fourth consecutive single-digit score for Rohit Sharma. Dhoni had come up to the stumps for the fifth ball and immediately, Rohit tries something that is as far away from his usual game as Mumbai is from Chennai. He tries to scoop a good length deliver on middle and off, completely messes up the shot, it flicks the shoulder of the bat, takes a part of his glove and seems to hit the helmet as well before looping nicely to Jadeja in front of short third man.

Ishan Kishan falls right after he burns a review for a no-ball. Deepak Chahar finally gets his first wicket of the season.

Kishan c Theekshana b Chahar 7 (9), MI 13/2 in 2.2 overs

Green goes for the pull but the ball doesn't rise as much he expected. It takes the off pole and Tushar Deshpande gets CSK the breakthrough they wanted. Not too clear if there was a feather of an inside edge but its all the same. Green has too go, Rohit Sharma has to walk in early anyhow. 

Green b Deshpande 6 (4), MI 13/1 in 1.5 overs

Great shot from Green, makes room and presents the full face of the bat to the good length delivery around middle and off. He sends that over the fielder there and Chahar has conceded 10 runs in the first over.

It is Cameron Green who has walked out with Ishan Kishan to open the MI innings. Deepak Chahar bowling the first over for CSK.

"It's a pretty big ground, but there is a short boundary at one side (61m), the other square boundary is at 70m and the straight boundary is 73m. The pitch is hard as a rock, the cracks are less this time around, it's a high-scoring ground this year with a lot of 200+ scores. It's a good batting pitch, but it'll be a touch slow and a touch low, especially against the brand new ball. It's sweaty and overcast, so the captain winning the toss would want to bat second," Pommie Mbangwa and Aaron Finch had said. MS Dhoni has done exactly that.

“Enjoying my batting now. The domestic season was quite good, I batted well. Trying to learn something everyday. The format is such that you have to grow all the time. Management and captain have given me role clarity. That gives a certain freedom. I was told at the start of the season what my role will be. I was given the freedom to play my game. Every year you can see the improvement in this league - be it in individual players or teams.”

Rohit Sharma(c), Ishan Kishan(w), Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Tim David, Nehal Wadhera, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal, Arshad Khan

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana

“Going pretty well, had a couple of good games, just about continuing the momentum. We have some worries, but we've started to do well. It's been challenging to find the right players and the right combinationbs. We know our strengths and the players who can fit in. Two changes for is - Kumar Kartikeya is OUT, a debut for Raghav Goyal. Tilak Varma is ill, he's replaced by Tristan Stubbs”

"We'll bowl first. A bit of rain expected, that's one reason, looks like a good wicket and we want them to set a target for us. Every individual has worked well, everyone can show some attention on the field, we've improved every game, there have been some slip ups, but we need to finish well. We're playing with the same squad"

MS Dhoni has won the toss and CSK will bowl first. Tilak Varma has a sight niggle says Rohit Sharma. 

Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni are chatting in the middle Pommie Mbangwa to conduct the toss. “Vanakkam Chennai!” he says before introducing all present in the middle. 

It as CSK's third match of the season and MI's second and so the latter were still going through their annual early season blues. CSK won the toss and put MI to bat first. They got off to a strong start, getting to a score of 61/1 in 6 overs before CSK put a break on the innings. MI were tottering at 113.7 by the time the 17th over came around after which a few lusty blows from Tim David and Hrithik Shokeen got them to a score of 157/8. However, Mumbai then got flattened by one the stalwart cricketers to have come out of the city. Ajinkya Rahane came in and smashed 61 off just 27 balls, completely blindsiding not just MI but even the neutral fans with the sensational display of big hitting and that led CSK to a seven-wicket win.

Despite their form falling off a cliff in recent matches, CSK's performance before that had been so good that they could still jump up to second spot with a win here. On the other hand, so poor MI in the first half of the league stage that a win here will only help them get into the top half  but it will be a step that will given them a big boost nonetheless. 

The Chepauk maybe known as CSK's fortress but Mumbai Indians have the wood on the four-time champions at the venue. MI have won six and lost just two against CSK at the stadium and are on a six-match winning streak here.

CSK failed to defend a target of 201 against Punjab Kings in their previous completed match, before which they conceded 202 runs to Rajasthan Royals and lost by 32 runs. In both those matches, a characteristic feature was the number of the runs their pacers Tushar Deshpande and Deepak Chahar conceded, which led to the opposition scoring over 200 runs in both games. 

MI have won five of their last seven games and a key feature of that has been the performance of their middle order batters. Suryakumar Yadav, Tim David and Tilak Varma have all made significant contributions and are pretty much the main reason why they chased down 200-plus totals in back-to-back games.

Mumbai Indians have often won matches on the basis of the way their batters explode in the death overs. However, they have also lost matches because of the sheer amount of runs that they concede in that period while they bowl. MI have the worst death-overs economy rate (13.36) in the IPL. CSK have fared much better in this phase, conceding 10.47 an over.

CSK's last match was a rare wash-off and there is an outside chance that a repeat could happen today. It was overcast when the two sides started training on the eve of the game and there's also some rain forecast for Saturday evening.