Chennai Super Kings always appeared to be the stronger team in the lead-up to the first leg of the El Clasico match in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, and they lived up to the hype on Sunday, defeating the Mumbai Indians by four wickets in the third match of the current tournament at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Noor Ahmad’s 4-18 and Khaleel Ahmed’s 3-29, their new bowlers, helped CSK defeat MI by holding them to 155/9 in their 20 overs. Gaikwad reached his fifty in 22 balls, his fastest half-century of the competition, by combining timing and aggression to knock six fours and three sixes during the chase.
Rachin Ravindra held one end up to strike an undefeated 45-ball 65, packed with two fours and four sixes, as CSK finished a nerve-wracking victory with five balls remaining, despite wickets coming from the other end. The biggest plus for MI, who haven’t won their opening IPL game since 2012, would be the 3-32 spell of left-arm wrist-spinner Vignesh Puthur.
Against the five-time champions, Noor deceived MI batters in his CSK debut by using his skill to select the best spinners from his club. However, Khaleel put MI on the defensive by playing his finest power play. MI didn’t choose their shots well, even with Tilak Varma (31) and Suryakumar Yadav (29), who helped to rebuild the innings. In the middle overs, CSK’s spinners stopped the run-flow.
Deepak Chahar’s cameo of 28 not out off 15 balls was necessary to push them beyond 150. Khaleel’s genius in power play helped CSK get off to a fantastic start after choosing to bowl first. Rohit Sharma was dismissed for a four-ball duck when Khaleel had him flip straight to mid-wicket with an inswinger on stumps. After hitting three boundaries, Ryan Rickelton fell to Khaleel for 13 after playing onto his stumps.
After almost ten years, Ravichandran Ashwin scored in his maiden over as a bowler for CSK when Will Jacks attempted to loft off his carrom ball but was caught at mid-off for eleven. In the middle of all of this, Suryakumar set up MI’s comeback by hitting Ashwin and Nathan Ellis with fours each before hitting Khaleel for six.
Varma attempted to disturb Ashwin immediately from the other end by thumping and reverse-sweeping him for consecutive boundaries before hitting Ravindra Jadeja for six. When Suryakumar stepped out to take on Noor, Ashwin almost had him out if he hadn’t shelled the caught and bowled chance. However, he missed the turning-away delivery and was promptly stumped out behind by MS Dhoni for 29.
When rookie Robin Minz attempted to escape pressure in the 13th over but holed out to long off, Noor scored once more. After trapping Tilak plumb lbw with a googly for 31 and encircling Naman Dhir’s legs for 17, one brought two for Noor. Chahar put the final touches on MI’s innings by smashing Khaleel for four and six after Ellis had trapped Mitchell Santner leg before wicket. However, MI crossed the 150-mark as Khaleel ended his spell by forcing Trent Boult to hole out in the deep and then Chahar hit Ellis for six.
Chahar scored after Rahul Tripathi top-edged his short ball to Rickleton in the second over while chasing 156. Arriving at number three, Gaikwad pulled Chahar for a six after creaming two drives off Trent Boult for consecutive fours.
As CSK concluded the power-play at 62/1, Gaikwad took advantage of his mistakes to drive through the square of the off-side after debutant pacer Satyanarayana Raju gave the breadth. He then pulled, whipped, and smashed Mitchell Santner for six and two fours. After that, Gaikwad reached his fifty in twenty-two balls after lofting Will Jacks inside-out for six. However, he holed out to long-off when attempting to play the lofted straight drive against Puthur, who was making his debut, and fell for 53.
Shortly after tricking the spin hitter with a googly, Puthur, who hasn’t yet played senior cricket for Kerala, claimed another significant wicket when Shivam Dube holed out to the fielder near the straight boundary for nine. Ravindra, who was at 28 off 27 balls at the time, danced down the pitch and lofted Puthur for six to indicate a change in pace amid all of this. However, Deepak Hooda was caught in the deep after failing to get elevation on the slog-sweep, so the young wrist spinner’s dream night went on.
After two uneventful overs, Sam Curran attempted to take on Jacks but was dismissed for four, which marked the beginning of CSK’s problems. Boult was sliced through backward point by Ravindra Jadeja to grab a four in a 10-run 17th over, with 31 runs needed from the final four overs.
Meanwhile, Ravindra hit Puthur over mid-wicket for six and then smoked him over long-on for another maximum to reach his fifty in forty-two balls. The fans was thrilled when Ravindra pulled Santner for six to end the pursuit, even if Jadeja was run out for 17. They also got to see MS Dhoni, who didn’t score a run, as CSK started the season with a victory.
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