Rohit Sharma:
(What went wrong?) Everywhere I guess. Our batters didn’t put up enough runs. We had an off-day as a batting unit. (Reason behind him moving to No. 3) Just felt that was what was comfortable after losing Tilak. Thought we needed Indian bats in the middle overs but lost three in the powerplay. Piyush is bowling well, others need to rally around him. That’s what we expect, it’s a team game. But we can take a lot of learnings and take it forward. Obviously, this year it’s felt like there has been no home advantage. We need to play good cricket, the next two home games are important. We need to do well to come back.
MS Dhoni, CSK captain:
Crucial game for a simple reason: the middle of the table has a logjam. This win gives a cushion, but we can’t get comfortable with it because one or two teams are close and are facing each other. We haven’t had a couple of games go in our way, so, good to be on the winning side. Frankly, I was slightly doubtful, I wanted to bat first. But the think tank together said there is a chance of rain. I had a simple calculation that the game starts at 3:30 pm. And if we are batting first and get about 2 hours to play, a major part of the game would be done with.
But I was slightly outnumbered and I said ‘Let’s go with the majority. Ultimately, our strength has been to talk about things and decide what’s best for the team and go with the majority when there’s confusion. As I said, it was slightly confusing as I felt the wicket could slow down. It has always been very good initially and I strongly felt that the rain would come after the majority of the game is done and would not have a big impact.
(On Pathirana) For people who don’t have very clean (conventional) action, batsmen have a difficult time picking it when trying to go after the bowler. But his consistency, variation, and pace make him special. What’s important is to keep an eye on how much cricket he is playing. I feel he should not play red-ball cricket. Not even get close to it, even play only ICC tournaments with ODIs, and keep the rest as less as possible.
Because he’s not someone who’ll change a lot. This is what he’ll do. So you can always use him at crucial times. But make sure he’s fit and available for all the ICC tournaments and he’ll be a great asset for Sri Lanka. Not to forget, he’s a really young boy. The last time he came, he was very lean but has put on muscle and is stronger. I feel he’ll serve for a long time in Sri Lankan cricket but he’ll have to keep an eye on how much he bowls.
Matheesha Pathirana, POTM:
It started last season, I came as a replacement and played two games. Now I’m getting more games and am happy. The team gave me a lot of confidence. These are my best bowling figures in T20 I think, happy about that and contributing to the win. I’m a die-hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo and have modeled my celebration after him.
Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians Highlights today, Saturday 6-5-2023. 49th Match (D/N), Indian Premier League 2023, MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai.
Dhoni says the potential rain and conditions are the reasons. He says so far, every individual has contributed but players need to pay more attention while on the ground. Other than that, they have improved every game despite the slip-ups. But in the second half of the tournament, they need to close games more professionally. “We are playing with the same squad”
Rohit says MI have been going well and need to continue going with the momentum, and that they have had concerns which they are looking into. Says the challenge of the IPL is that lots of players come into the squad and they need to pick the right players as per the conditions. Two changes: Kartikeya is out, and Raghav is in making his debut. Tilak is out, Stubbs is in
Toss: Chennai Super Kings, elected to field first.
Chennai Super Kings team: Maheesh Theekshana, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni †, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande.
Mumbai Indians team: Raghav Goyal, Cameron Green, Ishan Kishan, Rohit Sharma, Nehal Wadhera, Suryakumar Yadav, Tristan Stubbs, Tim David, Arshad Khan, Jofra Archer, Piyush Chawla, Akash Madhwal.
Head to Head In T20’s: 37
Chennai Super Kings Won: 16
Mumbai Indians Won: 21
Form guide
(last five completed Matches, most recent first)
Chennai Super Kings WWLLW
Mumbai Indians NRLLWW
Match Timings: 10:00 AM GMT | 3:30 PM Local
Umpires – Bruce Oxenford, Navdeep Singh
TV Umpire – KN Ananthapadmanabhan
Match Referee – Narayanan Kutty
Reserve Umpire – Parashar Joshi
Match number – IPL 2023 – 49th Match
