IPL 2023: Pathirana, Chahar, Deshpande star in Chennai restricting Mumbai to 139/8

Chennai, May 6 (IANS) A high-quality bowling performance from Chennai Super Kings (CSK), led by young pacer Matheesha Pathirana's 3-15, restricted Mumbai Indians to a modest 139/8 in 20 overs at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday.

Pathirana was on fire in his spell at the back end of the innings, giving away just 15 runs in his four overs, not conceding a single boundary while picking the wickets, denying Mumbai the finishing kick they needed after losing their top three batters in power-play.

He was also supported by Deepak Chahar and Tushar Deshpande taking two wickets each while Ravindra Jadeja had a scalp to his name. For Mumbai, barring Nehal Wadhera's 64 off 50 balls, which kept the innings together, no batter was allowed to break free on a slow pitch.

Electing to bowl first, Chennai left Mumbai in tatters in Power-play, starting from Deshpande hitting Cameron Green's top of off-stump with a short-of-a-length delivery which didn't bounce much in the second over.

Chahar dealt Mumbai a double blow in the third over -- Ishan Kishan got a top edge on a heave and was caught at mid-on, while Rohit Sharma, walking out to bat at No.3, fell for a three-ball duck after mistiming a scoop to backward point.

Suryakumar Yadav and Wadhera steadied the Mumbai innings by hitting five boundaries from overs 5-8. While Yadav was fluent in his pull and drive, Wadhera was beautiful in timing his cut and drive through the off-side against the spinners.

But the 55-run partnership came to an end in the 11th over when Yadav tried to back away and cut off Jadeja. But the ball was flatter and quicker, as Jadeja got it to hit the middle stump.

Wadhera marched forward to sweep Maheesh Theekshana for four, followed by dancing down the pitch to loft over long-on for six. After reaching his maiden IPL fifty in 46 balls with a brace off Jadeja, he slog-swept, pulled and swept the left-arm spinner for three boundaries.

But Pathirana dismissed Wadhera for 64 in the 18th over with a fiery 145kph yorker which kept low to go past the attempted flick and hit the base of the middle stump with great accuracy.

Mumbai didn't get the desired finishing flourish as Tim David holed out to long-off against Deshpande while Arshad Khan sliced straight to deep point and Tristan Stubbs mistimed a loft to running cover off Pathirana, as five runs and two wickets came off the final over.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians 139/8 in 20 overs (Nehal Wadhera 64; Matheesha Pathirana 3-15, Deepak Chahar 2-18) against Chennai Super Kings

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