Chennai Super Kings’ comeback hopes suffered a severe dent as they faced a defeat by nine wickets at the hands of Mumbai Indians in the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Following their inspiring victory over Punjab Kings in Chandigarh a week ago, Chennai were brought back to earth after Mumbai Indians registered a victory, courtesy Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.
Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav Register A Win For MI
Rohit, getting wicketless at the wicket at the ideal moment, was 76 not out and had a match-winning 114-run partnership with Suryakumar, who smashed a 68 off 30 balls. The target of 177 was chased by Mumbai with ease, scoring it under four overs to spare. Earlier, Rohit and Ryan Rickelton had built well with an opening partnership of 63 before the latter got bowled out by Ravindra Jadeja to score 24. The high-margin win for Mumbai was the third successive for the team as Chennai dropped their sixth game from eight matches and settled at the bottom of the points table.
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CSK’s Playoffs Hopes Look Dim – Can They Qualify?
Currently being led by MS Dhoni in place of injured skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, CSK’s playoff chances appear slim, but they’re not mathematically eliminated yet.
Despite collecting just four points so far, Chennai can still dream of a top-four finish. With six league matches left, winning all of them would take them to 16 points, a total that could be enough to qualify, depending on other results. Teams have reached the playoffs with 14 points before, as seen with Royal Challengers Bengaluru last season. But the journey won’t be smooth. CSK need not only to win all their remaining matches but also convincingly in order to enhance their net run rate, which stands at a -1.392.
Dhoni is optimistic, asking his team to take things one match at a time and continue to fight to remain in the contention.
