Six wickets from their opening bowlers and a century-stand from their opening batsmen guided Mumbai to a 10-wicket demolition of Chennai.
Here are the key talking points from the contest:
The Boult in the blue
Rarely does Mumbai's Trent Boult have the kind of shocker like he did in the team's previous outing against Punjab, giving away 62 runs in 4.4 overs, including the Powerplay, by far his most dismal outing this season. But the New Zealander bounced back in terrific fashion against Chennai, picking up a wicket in each of his first two overs, before adding another couple of scalps in his next two overs to finish with figures of 4-18, his best performance in the blue and gold of Mumbai.
Booming back into the race
For large parts of this campaign, the result of the Purple Cap winner has felt like a foregone conclusion, with Delhi's Kagiso Rabada head and shoulders above the competition. However, Jasprit Bumrah has breathed new life into the race with his recent performances and added a couple more to his tally to inch close to Rabada. Bumrah currently trails the South African by four wickets and with both teams expected to go all the way to the final, expect this race to go right down to the final over of this season.
Kishan makes use of a rare opportunity
With two of the finest openers in world cricket in Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock among their ranks, Mumbai seldom experiment with their pair at the top. But an injury to Sharma opened up a place for Ishan Kishan. It was a rare opportunity to play in his preferred role as an opener and made great use of the chance, smashing 68 off 37 balls, guiding Mumbai to a 10-wicket win over Chennai.
The end of an era
While they are mathematical alive by the skin of their teeth, this defeat means Chennai are all but out of the race for a place in the playoffs. As fate would have it, it was their eternal rivals Mumbai who hammered the nail in the coffin with this devastating humbling. Chennai will point to the absence of Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh and injuries to key stars like Dwayne Bravo, but their issues are deeper than just the loss of those three players, and it’s time for Chennai to hit the drawing board and plan out a new era starting next season.
Feature image courtesy: Twitter.com / Indian T20 League
