Chennai, India (AP) and Staff Writer — Chennai Super Kings had to dig deep to beat Mumbai Indians by 4 wickets in the Indian Premier League 2025. Chasing 156 runs, the hosts kept losing wickets at regular intervals, but brilliant batting by Rachin Ravindra took the team home. He scored a well-compiled fifty to keep the rivals at bay. CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad also struck a half-century. Vignesh Puthur took three wickets for Mumbai.
Earlier, Noor Ahmad (4 wickets) and Khaleel Ahmed (3 wickets) helped the Men in Yellow to restrict the Suryakumar Yadav-led team to 155/9 in 50 overs.
Tilak Varma (31), Suryakumar Yadav (29), and Deepak Chahar (28) were the main contributors with the bat.
Spin did the trick on a slow Chepauk track as Mumbai never got into third gear in its opening game. It missed skipper Hardik Pandya, who was on the bench serving a slow over-rate suspension from 2024. Mumbai was down to 96-6 in 13 overs and then 118-7 in 16.1 overs.
Chasing 156, Chennai was boosted by a 67-run partnership for the second wicket off only 37 balls between Gaikwad and Ravindra.
Gaikwad hit three sixes and six fours, reaching 50 off 22 balls. Mumbai struck back through 24-year-old left-arm wrist spinner Vignesh Puthur (3-32).
Chennai lost regular wickets to Puthur and Will Jacks but Ravindra helped his team reach the target in the 20th over.