Chennai: It’s a funny game this, cricket! Till yesterday, Mumbai Indians were looking like the best side of the tournament. They seemed like a balanced unit and the kind of form their players were in, they looked almost unbeatable. But one loss and all the loopholes are exposed! The invincibles are not looking unbeatable anymore.

It was a battle between Indian cricket’s favourite son, Sachin Tendulkar, and Indian cricket’s future, MS Dhoni. And it was Dhoni, who won the battle of wits, with the Chennai Super Kings humbling the Mumbai Indians by 24 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

Mumbai Indians were on top for most part of the match. They restricted Chennai to a modest total of 164 and then got off to a good start. But then came the turning point. Sachin Tendulkar had to retire due to dehydration and the Super Kings took full advantage of the opportunity by picking up six Mumbai wickets for just 28 runs. It was here that Mumbai’s weakness was exposed and their dependence on Tendulkar came to the fore. Tendulkar is their highest run-scorer in IPL 3 and he has got them off to brilliant starts in most matches. This time, it was different. Once Tendulkar retired, Mumbai just seemed like a pretty average team.

Tendulkar did return to bat later but it was too late by then and MS Dhoni’s men were in no mood to let the game get away. In the end, Mumbai Indians could manage only 141-9, handing Chennai a 24-run victory.

Chasing 165 to win, the visitors got off to a solid start as Tendulkar and Shikhar Dhawan (16) added 46 runs in six overs. However, things changed once Dhawan played on to his stumps off the bowling of Thushara. Tendulkar, who was struggling with his fitness, retired when he was on 38 off 28 balls. And then began a dramatic collapse of the Mumbai batting.

Mumbai lost four wickets for just seven runs in a space of two overs as Saurabh Tiwary (14), Kieron Pollard (5), Rajagopal Sathish (4) and Ryan McLaren (1) were dismissed in quick succession.

Tendulkar came back but could manage to add just seven before he holed out to Murali Vijay off Thilan Thushara. Harbhajan Singh tried to fight with a cameo of 33 off 23 balls but Mumbai were already too far behind on the run-rate. R Ashwin and Thilan Thushara, who was included in the side in place of Muttiah Muralitharan, picked up two wickets each whole Tyagi, Bollinger, Jakati and Raina chipped in with a wicket apiece.

Earlier, a tight spell of bowling in the middle overs by Kieron Pollard helped Mumbai restrict the Super Kings to 165-4. Chennai was dented by Pollard’s double strike in the 14th over, in which he dismissed Dhoni (31) and Hayden (35) off consecutive balls. Hayden once again struggled for his 31-ball 35, with the mongoose hardly connecting except two straight hits off Dwayne Bravo.

Mumbai kept a tight lid on the scoring rate right from the onset as Chennai’s in-form players could not manage too many big hits. Vijay (14), who smashed a blistering hundred in Chennai’s previous game on the same ground against the Rajasthan Royals, was the first wicket to fall. Raina (23) hit a huge six before he played one shot too many and holed out at deep square leg off Bravo.

In the end, S Badrinath, who made an unbeaten 30 off just 22 balls along with Mike Hussey (14 not out), took Chennai past 150, which proved good enough in the end. Pollard was the pick of the bowlers for Mumbai, with figures of 2 for 27 off 4 overs.

This is only the second defeat for Mumbai in this year’s IPL. While Chennai Super Kings have given a boost to their chances of reaching the semis with 10 points from as many games.

Match Summary:

Chennai Super Kings 165 for 4 (Hayden 35, Pollard 2-27) beat Mumbai Indians 141 for 9 (Tendulkar 45, Thushara 2-16, Ashwin 2-22) by 24 runs

Man of the Match: Suresh Raina

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