Mumbai Indians’ captain Hardik Pandya gestures during the Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Chennai Super Kings on Sunday. | AFP
It has been a contrasting situation for the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings in the IPL 2025 season so far. Old guards from MI have stood up and turned around the campaign for their franchise in the last few games. However, CSK experienced players have failed to lift their game, prompting the management to look forward.
Senior pros Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav stood up for the hosts with a 114-run, undefeated second wicket partnership to star in a nine-wicket win over arch rivals CSK at the Wankhede stadium on Sunday. The batter’s effort came after seniors Jasprit Bumrah, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Deepak Chahar, and skipper Hardik Pandya stood out with the ball to keep visitors batters silent for most of the innings on a good batting surface. All these players were instrumental in previous games as well, especially the last game against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
“Before winning in Delhi, we had close (two) games but couldn’t get over the line. When we have a senior group with experience, that helps, and as long as we are playing good cricket, we are happy, still midway through the season, and we are not taking anything for granted.” MI coach Mahela Jayawardene said in the post-match press conference.
Rohit leads the way
“Those are experienced players making those good decisions out there,” Jayawardene pointed out how Rohit used his experience to tackle R Ashwin inside powerplays. Rohit was going hammer and tongs but changed approach when Ashwin was introduced in the fourth over.
“Yeah, he’s been playing with that tempo for a while. He understands it. But at the same time, he reads the situation well. Like today, when Ashwin came on, he took a little time, didn’t try to take on the long boundary immediately. That’s what experienced players do—they make good decisions.”
Surya negates spin threat
Suryakumar took on left-arm spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad after Rohit went hammer and tongs in the powerplays. SKY later took on death specialist Matheesha Pathirana to seal the game.
“We knew it would spin and sent Surya at No. 3. He countered spin threat and Rohit changed his approach. They handled that situation really well, I think they were outstanding today,” Jayawardene said.
CSK coach Stephen Fleming praised the MI duo of Rohit and Surya for handling their spinners. “Micthell Santner isn’t a big turner of the ball, but he turning the ball in first innings gave us optimism. It (dew) wasn’t too bad, the wicket was still offering assistance, but a couple of their experienced players played very well to nullify spin. Surya took the spinners out of the game. It could have been a tricky chase, had we taken a couple of half chances, we needed wickets to put pressure on them,” Fleming said.
CSK seniors unimpressive
CSK experienced players, in comparison, didn’t deliver in a high-intensity clash as they have been out of confidence in the entire campaign. The introduction of Youngsters Ayush Mhatre and Shaik Rasheed gave them a good powerplay but the experienced duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Shivan Dube failed to build on the tempo. They were tied down by Mumbai Indians’ experienced bowlers, and they managed to target only inexperienced Ashwani Kumar and get few more runs which were not sufficient on the wicket. Skipper MS Dhoni never got going.
In bowling, the experienced duo of R Ashwin and Jaedja failed to deliver on a wicket offering assistance. By the time youngsters Noor Ahmad and Matheesha Pathirana were introduced, MI were over 100 with just one wicket down and Rohit and Surya in control of the situation with an asking rate with their grasp.
“We are not here to play conservative cricket. We failed to find the tempo. The ball was stopping (in the middle overs). But guys need to be more proactive to handle such a situation and maintain tempo,” CSK coach Stephen Fleming said after the match.
“We are trying to stay in the competition, and we have done good things at the backend of the tournament in the past. But we are realistic about the position we are in (at the bottom of the table after six losses) and looking forward to building the team for the future,” he added.
