In a match with several twists and turns, the Mumbai Indians held their nerve and recovered from a mid-innings collapse to hand the Chennai Super their first defeat at home in Pepsi IPL 2015. Given to chase 159 on a slow track at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, MI got off to a solid start before they lost three wickets in a short period of time. They then recovered through Ambati Rayudu and Hardik Pandya to get past the finish line in the final over with six wickets in hand.

The diminutive Parthiv Patel set the pace for the visitors at the start of the run chase; the left-hander struck the first five boundaries in the innings and raced away to 27 from 15 balls even as his partner Lendl Simmons was slow to get off the blocks. Simmons joined the party in the fifth over when he welcomed Ashish Nehra with a six and then hit two boundaries in the same over.

By the time the field restrictions were relaxed at the end of six overs, MI had raced to 61, with both batsmen scoring 30 runs apiece. The pair stretched their association to 84 runs, before Parthiv attempted a slog sweep which was pouched by Faf du Plessis at the edge of the long on boundary. Simmons perished two balls later when his attempted slog sweep landed in the hands of Dwayne Smith at midwicket. Parthiv made 45 from 32 balls and Simmons made 38 from 31 balls. MI, who were 84 for no loss at the half-way stage, had suddenly slumped to 85 for 2 in 10.4 overs.

Soon after, a sharp piece of fielding by Dwayne Bravo resulted in the run out of Kieron Pollard (1) and MI had lost three wickets for two runs. That gave CSK the opportunity to put pressure on the visitors and MS Dhoni duly tightened the screws. MI only scored 15 runs in the following three overs bowled by Ravindra Jadeja and Pawan Negi. The required run rate, which had at one point touched a low of 7.00, had reached 11.60 heading into the final five overs.

Rohit Sharma, who earned a life when he was put down by Faf du Plessis on 13, didn’t capitalise on that opportunity and holed out to Suresh Raina at long on shortly after. CSK had their noses in front at that point in time, with MI needing 34 from the last 17 deliveries. That is when Ambati Rayudu and Hardik Pandya turned the heat on; both batsmen targeted the penultimate over of the match – bowled by Negi. Pandya hit three sixes in four deliveries, while Rayudu hit the final ball of the over for a six to ensure the scales tilted decidedly in favour of his team.

Rayudu scored the winning runs off the second ball of the final over and remained unbeaten on 34 from 19 balls, while Pandya had 21 runs against his name from eight balls.

For CSK, R Ashwin, who was included in the paying XI after having recovered from his finger injury, opened the bowling, and bowled his four overs in the first eleven overs; his figures read 4-0-17-2, which included the scalps of the two opening batsmen. Pawan Negi was outstanding too; bowling slower through the air, hitting the right lengths, allowing the ball to do its bit off the pitch and forcing the batsmen to generate their own pace; he bowled three very good overs, before the disastrous fourth over.

Earlier in the evening, the Chennai Super Kings couldn’t capitalise on a rollicking start provided by their opening pair of Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum. The openers added 44 runs in quick time – with McCullum scoring 23 runs from 11 balls – before they were separated. After McCullum had picked the lone man patrolling the midwicket boundary, MI dismissed Suresh Raina and Smith before the half-way mark – Hardik Pandya taking the catches to send back all three batsmen. Smith consumed 34 balls and scored 27 runs before he became Harbhajan Singh’s victim in the tenth over.

CSK skipper MS Dhoni struck a six very early in his innings, but his innings generally operated on a construct mode; he and Faf du Plessis ran well between the wickets and added 39 runs in six overs before the latter’s innings was cut short by a sharp catch by Lendl Simmons at short fine leg. From 104 for 4 when du Plessis was dismissed in the sixteenth over, with only Dhoni and the lower middle order remaining, it appeared that CSK would end up with a total of 140 on the board.

However, in those difficult circumstances emerged a new hero for the hosts. Pawan Negi, batting at number six, gave the innings the much needed impetus. The left-hander blasted his way – hitting a six and four boundaries – to 36 from 17 balls before being run out of the last ball of the innings. His partnership with his captain lasted 4.4 overs, but was worth 54 runs. Dhoni struck two boundaries and two sixes in his 32-ball 39 as CSK finished their twenty overs at 158-5.

For the visitors, J Suchith was the most economical of the specialist bowlers; the left-arm spinner bowled his four overs conceding only 21 runs, while also picking up the wicket of the dangerous Raina. Mitchell McClenaghan, R Vinay Kumar and Harbhajan Singh picked up a wicket apiece.

Brief Scores

Chennai Super Kings 158-5 in 20.0 Overs (MS Dhoni 39*, J Suchith 1-21) lost to Mumbai Indians 159-4 in 19.2 Overs (Parthiv Patel 45, R Ashwin 2-17)

Man of the Match: Hardik Pandya, for his three catches and 8-ball 21.