CHENNAI: A typical Chennai wicket is what Rohit Sharma called the surface when he opted to bat first after winning the toss in the Eliminator against Lucknow Super Giants at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Wednesday.
To an extent, it was a surprise.
For starters, Mumbai Indians had won only twice while defending in five games this season. Also, it was the same pitch where MI posted an above-par score when they played the hosts earlier this month.
However, the way Qualifier 1 progressed on Tuesday and the lack of dew, in particular, meant Sharma felt they had better odds defending it with their bowling attack.
Sharma's decision proved to be a masterstroke as Mumbai comfortably beat their opponents by 81 to advance to the second Qualifier against Gujarat on Friday.
With next to no dew, the Mumbai bowlers were always in the game and Akash Madhwal did the star turn, picking up five wickets in a dream spell in the end phase of the match.
Earlier, the intent from Mumbai batters was clear. Go big in the first six overs and then consolidate. Krunal Pandya, in contrast to what Sharma thought of the surface, used four overs of spin in the powerplay but it backfired.
Sharma and Ishan Kishan went hard with the bat as MI scored 62/2 in six overs.
Cameron Green and Suryakumar Yadav took over from there, keeping the momentum going.
When the duo was batting in the middle, there was a sense of contrast to it. Green, with his hard hands and stiff bat swing, cut and punched and lofted spinners with no fuss. Krunal was at the receiving end as Green hit the LSG skipper for three fours in an over.
Meanwhile, Yadav did what he does best. He stood tall and guided the bouncer over the ropes with his wrists and hands making a hook look like a scoop. And he did it twice, first off against Yash Thakur and then against Mohsin Khan. At the other end, Green pulled Mohsin into the stands to join the party.
Watching the pair, it almost felt like there was an internal contest going on as to who is going to score quicker. They did not spare Ravi Bishnoi as Yadav used the crease to create room and hit the leg-spinner with the spin over extra cover. He then punched Naveen-ul-Haq off the backfoot through covers, racing to 33 from 19 balls.
However, Naveen was the one bowler who had known what to do and where to bowl on that pitch up until that point. He had varied his pace, put his cutters to use and now, he deceived Yadav with a slower one, as the Mumbai batter was caught by K Gowtham. Two balls later, an off-cutter at 104.9 KPH came back into the Australian to clean up the stumps.
All of a sudden MI were in a spot of bother (105/4 after 11 overs).
Tilak Varma, who was joined by Tim David, did not let LSG dictate terms as the southpaw swept Bishnoi over the ropes. The duo negated the next three overs cautiously before Varma swept Naveen into the stands, showing why he is rated highly by Sharma.
David then used the long handle to pick up a boundary against Thakur before holing out in the deep to a high full toss. When it looked like MI might not maximise the death overs, Nehal Wadhera tonked Naveen for a six. Even as Varma got out, Wadhera smashed 23 off 12 balls including two fours and a six, taking MI to 182/8.
Lucknow could ill-afford a bad start but that's what happened as the mercurial Kyle Mayers departed early. Resistance from the middle-order, save Marcus Stoinis was in short supply and they eventually folded for 101.
