Chennai : Chennai Super Kings (CSK) delivered a clinical all-round performance and secured a convincing victory, outclassing Mumbai Indians (MI) by 8 wickets with 11 balls remaining in the 44th match of the IPL 2026 season on Saturday, May 2, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. With this victory, CSK completed a double over their rivals this season and still holds strong chances of qualifying for the playoffs.
Both teams made a few changes to their playing XI for this crucial match. CSK brought in Ramakrishna Ghosh, who made his IPL debut in this match. Prashant Veer returned to the side, and Urvil Patel came into the top order. Meanwhile, MI included Ragu Sharma, who also made his IPL debut, and Krish Bhagat also returned to the side.
The match began with MI won the toss and elected to bat first. In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Ryan Rickelton and Will Jacks opened the innings. However, MI faced an early setback as Anshul Kamboj dismissed Will Jacks for 1 off 5 balls, thanks to a brilliant catch by debutant Ramakrishna Ghosh. Naman Dhir came in at number three, while Rickelton accelerated during the powerplay with aggressive boundaries, helping MI reach 57 for 1 at the end of the powerplay. However, the momentum did not last long. The introduction of Noor Ahmad in the 7th over proved effective as he dismissed Rickelton for 37 off 24 balls. Suryakumar Yadav tried to maintain momentum along with Naman Dhir, but after a brisk 21 off 12 balls, he was dismissed by debutant Ramakrishna Ghosh, who claimed his maiden IPL wicket. Tilak Varma (5 off 8 balls) also departed cheaply, top-edging a sweep off Noor Ahmad to Ruturaj Gaikwad. The skipper came in but could not contribute much, scoring 18 off 23 balls before being dismissed by Anshul Kamboj. Naman Dhir played a composed and crucial innings in the middle order, scoring 57 off 37 balls, but failed to find steady partnerships. In the 17th over, he was also dismissed by Anshul Kamboj. CSK delivered an outstanding bowling performance, led by Anshul Kamboj and Noor Ahmad. Noor finished with impressive figures of 2/26 in four overs, while Kamboj picked up 3 wickets for 32 runs in his four overs, taking crucial wickets at key moments. MI were 100/3 in the 11th over and looked set to reach above 180, but CSK’s bowling restricted them effectively in the final overs. MI struggled to find boundaries and finished with a modest total of 159/7 in 20 overs.
Chasing a target of 160, CSK faced an early setback with the dismissal of Sanju Samson (11 off 9 balls) by Bumrah, edging an outswinger to Rickelton in the second over. Earlier in that over, Will Jacks had dropped a catch at slip off Samson. MI gained early momentum, but it did not last long. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad took charge and anchored the innings calmly and brilliantly, scoring an unbeaten 67 off 48 balls. He built a quick and steady partnership with Urvil Patel, who scored 24 off 12 balls before being dismissed by Ghazanfar. Later, Gaikwad formed an unbroken partnership with impact player Kartik Sharma, who played an outstanding knock of 54 off 40 balls*, reaching his maiden IPL half-century. The unbeaten duo rotated the strike consistently and maintained a good run rate, putting immense pressure on the MI bowlers. After taking two wickets, MI failed to break the partnership, which allowed CSK to comfortably chase the target. Kartik Sharma finished the match with a boundary, sealing the victory with 11 balls to spare. MI again suffered from a middle-order collapse and, in bowling, were unable to take crucial wickets at the right time.
With this win, CSK achieved a league double over MI for the third time in IPL history after 2014 and 2023. CSK moved to 6th position in the points table with 8 points and an NRR of +0.005, strengthening their playoff hopes heading into the second half of the league stage. Meanwhile, MI remained in 9th position with 4 points.
