IPL 2020: With all the craze of the Indian Premier League opener coming to an end, honestly, fans really did not get the juice that they were looking forward to. However, with the pitch inclined towards the bowlers, most of the games will be something similar.
Chennai Super Kings won the game comfortably by five wickets and with four balls to spare, thanks to a decent knock under pressure from Faf Du Plessis and a very special inning from Ambati Rayudu who rightly adjudged as the man of the match.
We will take a look three best and three worst players in today’s game.
Worst:
Murali Vijay: 3.5/10
Playing cricket after a long time, a former Indian test opener was at a loss of expressions about what was unfolding around him. His day started with a botched dive that failed to stop a De Kock drive and then continued to get worse as he showed serious signs of being unfit. He failed miserably with the bat as James Pattinson cleaned him up with an absolute pearler. A full-length delivery from Pattinson cut inside and struck him on the pads even before he could react. Instead of waiting in the middle, he walked away, even though Du Plessis urged him to take a review. It was an absolute fiasco for Vijay.
Rohit Sharma 5/10
He was surmised to be the best in the Mumbai ranks for the night but he failed miserably. Starting the game with a classic drive and following it with another beautifully placed late cut, he gave out all the signs of converting it into something big today. However, Dhoni’s captaincy did the trick for Sharma as his weakness towards leg-spinners was exploited fascinatingly by Piyush Chawla. A flighted delivery moving away from Sharma tempted him to drive and in the process, choosing a very poor shot, he ended up holing to Sam Curran. His captaincy was equally dubious and overall, he led Mumbai from the front in their vertiginous downward slope for the night.
Krunal Pandya: 4/10
Krunal Pandya was one of the worst performers for Mumbai Indians in the opening match of IPL 2020. He couldn’t perform with the bat in the first innings and bowled one of the worst overs of the match when he bowled back to back lose deliveries to Sam Curran, who smashed him for sixes and fours and took the match away from Mumbai Indians. It was a poor display of bowling by Krunal.
Best:
Ambati Rayudu: 9/10
Rayudu was a class act for the night as he played a superb inning of 71 from 48 balls, thereby almost finishing the job for Chennai. He walked in under a much-pressured situation when Chennai was reeling at 6 for 2 from the heat of Trent Boult and James Pattinson. However, he led the charge after the initial repairs and took the fight right unto the doorstep of the Mumbai bowlers, smashing 6 boundaries and 3 over-boundaries in the process. He finally ended up holing out to Rahul Chahar, trying to sweep a wrong delivery that got the loft but not the distance.
Faf Du Plessis: 9/10
Du Plessis’ figures weren’t really as dashing as that of Rayudu but the impact he created on the game was absolutely brilliant. From plucking out two stunners of the air on the edge of the boundary that saw Saurabh Tiwary and Hardik Pandya removed, he led the resurgence of Chennai, joining forces with Rayudu. He played the role of an anchor while Rayudu slaughtered the bowlers. Faf kept his calm until that last moment as it was through his bat that the winning runs arrived. He stayed unbeaten for a stupendous 58 from 44 deliveries.
Lungi Ngidi: 8/10
Lungi Ngidi was taken apart in his first spell of IPL 2020 by Quinton de Kock but he came back very strong in the second spell and toom crucial wickets, including Kieron Pollard’s big wicket, in his second spell. He took 3 wickets in total and pulled the match back in CSK’s favor in the last phase of Mumbai Indians’ innings.
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