A high-scoring thriller in Delhi!

Mumbai Indians (MI) claimed their second consecutive victory in the season after beating Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 4 wickets in Match 27 of the VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday.

Kieron Pollard played a majestic knock of 87* off 34 deliveries and helped MI chase down a mammoth target in a high-scoring last-ball thriller.

Chasing a massive target of 219, MI openers – Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock started on a positive note and were striking at 10 runs per over in the powerplay.

The boundaries were coming in plenty and de Kock was doing the majority of the scoring before Rohit took over. MI scored 15 off Chahar in the 3^rd over as de Kock smashed the first six of MI’s innings.

Meanwhile, Rohit launched Ngidi over mid-wicket in the final over for a six and MI were 58-0 after 6 overs.

Shardul Thakur managed to break the opening stand after the MI skipper sliced the ball to Ruturaj in the outfield in the 7^th over.

MI got into further trouble after they lost 2 more wickets in the next two overs. Jadeja scalped Suryakumar’s wicket after the right-hander got a faint edge.

On the other hand, Moeen dismissed the well-settled de Kock by taking a catch off his own bowling and MI were 81-3 at the end of 10 overs.

With the required run-rate climbing up, Pollard accelerated and got the better of Jadeja after scoring 20 runs off the 13^th over that included three giant sixes.

The West-Indian all-rounder was dealing in sixes and slammed his half-century off 17 balls. After smacking two sixes against Ngidi, Pollard took Shardul to the cleaners, scoring 23 runs in the 15^th over.

Krunal joined the party and smashed two fours and a six in the 16^th over against Ngidi as MI required 50 off the final four.

Sam Curran broke the vital partnership and trapped Krunal lbw with a perfect yorker. The left-armer conceded only 2 runs in the 17^th over.

With 48 required off the 3 overs, MI scored 17 off Shardul’s over after du Plessis dropped a crucial catch in the outfield, that too, of Pollard.

Curran bowled the penultimate over and scalped the wickets of Hardik and Neesham after both the batsmen holed out to the deep and the equation was down to 16 off the final over.

Pollard held his nerves and creamed two fours and a six against Ngidi. With 2 runs required off the final ball, Pollard got MI over the line and helped them win by 6 wickets.

Earlier, CSK, who were put in to bat first, lost Ruturaj Gaikwad in the opening over. Trent Boult provided MI an early wicket after the CSK opener was caught inside the circle.

However, CSK didn’t let the pressure of an early wicket get into their minds after du Plessis and Moeen Ali clubbed a six each against Kulkarni and Boult respectively.

Moeen added two more fours followed by a six against Bumrah with a flick of the wrists in the 5^th over. The left-hander finished the powerplay with a four and CSK were 49/1 after 6 overs.

The fifty partnership was up for the second wicket as Moeen continued to take on the MI bowling attack. CSK scored 16 off Chahar in the 9^th over, with both du Plessis and Moeen smacking a six each.

Moeen reached his half-century off just 33 deliveries after he cleared Neesham to smash his fifth six of the innings and CSK were 95-1 after 10 overs.

du Plessis then attacked Bumrah and smashed consecutive sixes followed by a four but the MI pacer broke the dangerous partnership after Moeen was caught behind, trying to play an upper-cut.

MI took hold of the game after Pollard scalped two wickets in consecutive deliveries to send du Plessis and Raina back to the pavilion.

du Plessis, who tried to play the lap shot was caught at short-fine leg, thanks to a fine catch from Bumrah while Raina deposited straight to Krunal in the outfield.

Rayudu and Jadeja then stitched a key partnership, with CSK approaching towards the business end of the innings. Rayudu launched Chahar for a maximum in the 15^th over followed by two huge hits down the ground against Kulkarni.  

Bumrah conceded 21 runs in the 17^th over. While Jadeja creamed a four, Rayudu finished the over with 2 sixes and a four off a free-hit. The right-hander carried the exploits to the next over and clobbered two sixes against Boult, along with a four to bring up his half-century off just 20 deliveries.

24 runs came off the final two overs as Rayudu finished off the innings with a four and six each and CSK put a massive total of 218/4 on board in the first innings.

Brief Scores:  Mumbai Indians: 219/6 (Kieron Pollard 87*, Quinton de Kock 38; Sam Curran 3-34) beat Chennai Super Kings: 218/4 (Ambati Rayudu 72, Moeen Ali 58; Kieron Pollard 2-12) by 4 wickets.