Recent Match Report – Super Kings vs Mum Indians 27th Match 2021

His stunning 34-ball 87 ends Super Kings’ five-match winning streak

Mumbai Indians 219 for 6 (Pollard 87*, de Kock 38) beat Chennai Super Kings 218 for 4 (Rayudu 72, Moeen 58) by four wickets

Kieron Pollard’s stunning onslaught took the Mumbai Indians to an improbable win over the Chennai Super Kings in a run-fest in Delhi. The defeat also ended the Super Kings’ five-match winning streak.

Chasing 219, Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock gave Mumbai a start of 71 in 7.4 overs. After that it was all Pollard, who smashed an unbeaten 87 off 34 balls. During the course of his knock, he muscled six fours and eight sixes and, with a little bit of help from Krunal and Hardik Pandya, brought it down to 16 needed from the final over.

With Dhawal Kulkarni at the other end, Pollard decided he was going to face all six balls from Lungi Ngidi. He refused a single on the first ball. The next was almost a perfect yorker that Pollard managed to squirt it between his legs for four.

Ngidi then ended up bowling three full tosses in a row. Pollard pulled the first one for four to fine leg, refused a single on the next. With eight needed from the last two, he smashed the third of those full tosses for a six. Ngidi bowled the final ball in the blockhole but Pollard dug it out towards the right of long-on and scampered back for the second.

Earlier, Ambati Rayudu played a similar knock to Pollard’s, blazing 72 not out off 27 balls on the top of the breezy half-centuries from Moeen Ali and Faf du Plessis.

After being put in, du Plessis (50 off 28) and Ali (58 off 36) added 108 in 61 balls overs for the second wicket before the Super Kings lost three wickets for four runs. But there was no respite for Mumbai as Rayudu smashed seven sixes and four fours to propel the Super Kings to 218 for 4.

Such was Rayudu’s onslaught that the last six overs produced 92 runs despite Jadeja crawling at a run-a-ball 22 at the other end. The two added 102 in 48 balls in an unbroken stand for the fifth wicket, making it the first instance in the IPL, and only the tenth in all T20s, that an innings featured two century stands.

In all, the Super Kings hit 16 sixes – the most by any team against Mumbai. Jasprit Bumrah went for 56 from his four overs, his most expensive spell in T20 cricket. Despite them having such a day in the field, Pollard ensured Mumbai finished on the right side.

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