This game was a tactical give-and-go. Hardik Pandya quickly realised how well the ball was coming onto the bat. He went for 38 runs in two overs. So he took pace off in the powerplay. The two overs of spin he went to yielded two wickets. CSK countered that by promoting Shivam Dube. AM Ghanzafar took him down for 5 off 8. He was brave to take the pace off. Dube, along with Ruturaj Gaikwad, the other batter Ghazanfar dismissed, are having a poor IPL 2026. The CSK captain has a high score of 28 and a strike rate of 119.54. Aaruchaamy, Dube’s nickname, loosely translated as god of sixes, has hit only five in seven innings.

Deeply aware of the disadvantage batting first at Wankhede Stadium, every batter made an effort to hit early boundaries. CSK put up 73 for 2 in the first six overs. Only once have they made more against MI, and that was way back in 2015. When the field spread and MI looked like regaining control, taking two wickets and only giving two boundaries in a stretch of 3.3 overs, Dewald Brevis walked out and smashed Mitchell Santner for two sixes. One of them made Santner trying to hide the ball outside off stump look entirely silly. This is the talent Brevis has. MI knew they had to get rid of him.

There were plenty of mistakes – too many on the pads, too many with width – but there were also good plans. MI showed signs that the pressure was getting to them but they didn’t buckle. In the 11th over, after being taken for two fours, Ashwani Kumar didn’t lose sight of what his team wanted to do. Go short at Brevis. He made things better for himself by taking pace off as well. So when the batter tried to upper cut him, the ball didn’t have enough to clear the boundary. Brevis’ wicket for 21 off 11 left CSK at 122 for 4, with Kartik Sharma and Overton left to bat.

All night long, he had shown his touch. Creaming Bumrah through cover point for the first boundary of the innings. Whipping Hardik off his pads for six. Often it seems he expends no effort to score these runs. Nothing exemplified this aspect of his game more than the boundaries he got through third man. All he needed to do was beat the infield. Later, he did push himself. Facing a free-hit against Bumrah in the 19th over, he predicted the fast bowler would go for a yorker, so he walked down the pitch, shaping to play the reverse ramp, saw the ball was a little too straight and so went proper ramp and got four for it. When he ended the over with a single, he and Bumrah had a little laugh about the shot. This is what MI vs CSK is. The best players doing unbelievable things against each other. This hype won’t die.

Samson was 44 off 20. CSK started losing wickets. And he had to throttle down. 15 off 14. He hit only one boundary from over 7.5 to 15.1 because CSK just could not afford to lose him. They also couldn’t afford a total less than 200. Samson jugged these two opposing responsibilities – guarding his wicket but also finding the boundary – so well. Hardik refusing to bowl himself after the early pasting helped. Krish Bhagat, playing his first IPL season, had to bowl the 16th and the 20th overs and Samson targeted him, facing all 12 of his balls, denying singles in the last over, and smashing 31 runs, including three sixes and three fours. The last of those boundaries brought up his second century for CSK. No one has made more, and he’s only played seven innings for them. Bumrah, Hardik and Suryakumar Yadav all came over to congratulate Samson. In his own dressing room, Steven Fleming pulled him into a bear hug.

CSK dropped Akeal against Sunrisers Hyderabad, worried by what power-hitting left-handers might do to him. MI had left-handers too but clearly not the fear inducing kind like Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head and Ishan Kishan. Akeal started his evening getting hit for six by Quinton de Kock but ended it by taking down Tilak Varma. In between, he bowled a wicket-maiden in the powerplay and got plenty of opportunity to bring out his masked man celebration, where he hides his face behind one hand with his eyes peeking out through spread fingers.

Akeal bowled two overs in the first six. He used the around-the-wicket angle to keep himself in the game against left-hand batters. Bowling in tandem with Noor Ahmad, he helped CSK pick up four wickets for three runs and create one of the lasting visuals of the night. MI batters walking in and being crowded out by slips and short legs and short covers. Nine wickets to spin was an IPL record at Wankhede Stadium.

Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 207 for 6 in 20 overs  (Sanju Samson 101*, Rutraj Gaikwad 22, Sarfaraz Khan 14, Dewald Brevis 21, Kartik Sharma 18, Jamie Overton 15; Jasprit Bumrah 1-31, AM Ghazanfar 2-25, Mitchell Santner 1-44, Ashwani Kumar 2-37) beat Mumbai Indians 104 in 19 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 35, Tilak Varma 37;  Akeal Hosein 4-17, Mukesh Choudhary 1-31, Anshul Kamboj 1-10,  Noor Ahmad 2-23, Jamie Overton 1-14, Gurjapneet Singh 1-07)  by 103 runs

[Cricinfo]