IPL 2026: Young Guns Fire As CSK Beat MI With 8 Wickets To Win Their 4th Match In The Tournament

Chennai, May 2: A supreme all-round effort powered Chennai Super Kings to a convincing eight-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians in their highly anticipated IPL encounter, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, and in the process dealt a severe blow to the visitors’ chances to qualify for the IPL Playoffs, here on Saturday.

Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kartik Sharma made short work of the target of 160 as the Chennai Super Kings romped home at 160/2 in 18.1 overs.

Gaikwad slammed 67 in 48 balls studded with five fours and two sixes while Sharma cracked 54 in 40 balls with four fours and three sixes.

The batting effort came after the CSK bowlers led by Anshul Kamboj restricted Mumbai Indians to 159/7 in 20 overs.

Naman Dhir’s 57 and Ryan Rickelton’s 37 were the only batting highlights for Mumbai Indians in what was another insipid effort from them as they battle to stay alive in the race for the Playoffs.

Kamboj’s 3/32 and Noor’s 2/26 stifled Mumbai Indians’ scoring while Overton chipped in with 1/23.

Mumbai Indians were off to a sedate start with just one run coming off the first over bowled by Chennai Super Kings’ Mukesh Choudhary.

Disaster struck for Mumbai Indians in the second over when Will Jacks holed out to Ramakrishna Ghosh for just one at deep point as the CSK faithful erupted in joy.

Ryan Rickelton then decided to counter-attack as he took Choudhary apart for two consecutive sixes in the third over as 15 runs came off it for Mumbai Indians.

Naman Dhir decided to take on Anshul Kamboj in the fourth over hoisting him for a massive six while Rickelton survived a run out chance off Kamboj in the fourth ball of the same over as both teams tussled it out hard in the powerplay.

Prashant Veer showed glimpses of his potential and seemed to be bowling a tight first over before Rickelton spoilt his plans with two huge sixes as Mumbai Indians reached 47/1 in five overs maintaining a run-rate of nine-plus.

When Naman Dhir blasted Choudhary for a six off the first ball of the sixth over, Mumbai Indians had brought up their fifty in 5.1 overs reaching 53/1. Mumbai Indians were 57/1 at the end of the powerplay and Rickelton and Dhir going well with a solid 56-run partnership.

Dhir survived on 19 when he was dropped by Shivam Dube off Noor Ahmad as Chennai Super Kings were found wanting on the field.

However, Noor and CSK made up for the fielding lapse seeing the back of an in-form Rickelton for 37 caught by Urvil Patel at deep mid-wicket.

T20 World Cup winning Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav joined Dhir to rebuild the Mumbai Indians innings after the departure of Rickelton and the former appeared to be in good touch slamming a couple of fours in his first eight balls faced.

Suryakumar then took Noor to the cleaners with a four and a six in the 10th over as the Mumbai Indians got a move on and some momentum.

However, for SKY, it was again a case of bad luck pointed out by head coach Mahela Jayawardene in the pre-match presser, as he holed out to Dewald Brevis as debutant Ramakrishna Ghosh scalped his first IPL wicket.

The visitors’ 100 came in 10.5 overs as they reached 100/3 going at a run-rate of nine.

Noor Ahmad was turning out to be the star of the show for Chennai Super Kings as he picked up the wicket of a potentially dangerous Tilak Varma for just five runs as Mumbai Indians then slipped to 109/4 in 12.5 overs.

The Afghanistan spinner completed his quota of overs with excellent figures of 2/26 as he along with the rest of the CSK bowlers piled on the pressure for Mumbai Indians desperately looking for a win in the match.

Dhir was out to Jamie Overton off an excellent catch taken by Sarfaraz Khan at cover after the standout knock of the Mumbai Indians batting effort that saw him smash 57 off 37 balls with four fours and three sixes.

Anshul Kamboj scalped his second wicket when he had Robin Minz played on for just five runs as MI were at 139/6 in 17.2 overs.

Overton bowled a fantastic four overs as well with figures of 1/23 and economy of 5.75 as Super Kings tightened the screws towards the end.

When MI skipper Hardik Pandya departed for 18 off 23 balls at a strike rate of 78.26, it was a telling tale of Mumbai Indians’ woes.

Published on: Saturday, May 02, 2026, 11:17 PM IST