The El Clasico of the Indian Premier League panned out as thrilling and exciting as the fans had expected as Kieron Pollard delivered a power packed all round performance to hand Mumbai Indians a memorable win over arch rivals Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley stadium on Saturday.
The high voltage clash between the two heavyweights went down till the last ball to determine the winner and featured some high voltage drama and thrilling action. Chasing CSK's gigantic 218/4, MI were off to a flying start with skipper Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Knock amassing 71 runs for the opening wicket. Sharma scored 35 off 24 before perishing in the 8th over. The proceedings got a bit shaky for the defending champions as they soon lost Surya Kumar Yadav (3 off 3) and their set batter de Kock (38 off 28) in quick succession. Krunal Pandya looked in great touch with his 23 ball 32 but couldn't spend more time on the pitch as Sam Curran sent him packing in the 17th over. MI then pinned their hopes on the shoulders of their stalwart Pollard who in turn rose to the occasion with his powerful hitting and scored an unbeaten 87 off 34 balls dazzling it with 6 fours and 8 sixes.
Earlier, Rohit had won the toss and asked CSK to bat first. Trent Boult gave the boys in blue a perfect start with his brilliant first over that also featured the wicket of CSK's in-form opener Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Moeen Ali then joined forces with du Plessis on the brilliant Delhi wicket to deliver a scintillating partnership that laid the foundation of a big first innings total for CSK. Ali scored a 36 ball 58 while faf smashed 50 runs off 28 deliveries. Coming at no. 5, Amabti Rayudu also joined the party and took the MI blowers to cleaners. Rayudu slammed an unbeaten 72 off just 27 with a jaw dropping strike rate of 266, blasting 4 fours and 7 sixes. Rayudu guided CSK to a giant 218/4 but his heroics went in vain as Pollard delivered his best batting performance till date to steal a last ball victory for his franchise as the five time champions finished their chase on 219/6.
