IPL History: Three memorable nail-biting encounters between MI and CSK
Every sport is bound to have some historic rivalries in its legacy. Cricket is no stranger to such rivalries. ‘The Ashes,’ the century-old epic rivalry between Australia and England is often regarded as the greatest rivalry in the history of Cricket. The India-Pakistan rivalry is not very much behind the Ashes rivalry.
In the Indian Premier League, it is the Mumbai Indians-Chennai Super Kings rivalry, which is considered as the mother of all IPL clashes. Some even term their match as the ‘El Clasico’ of IPL.
In terms of consistency, it is a well-known fact that CSK is the most consistent team in the history of IPL. In terms of title wins, MI and CSK are the only two teams to win the IPL trophy thrice. However, in terms of head-to-head, the Mumbai Indians edge their archrivals with 15-12 win-loss record. Besides, MI is the only team to have a high success rate against CSK in IPL history.
Ahead of today’s clash, let us look at three best nail-biting encounters between these two teams in the history of IPL.
#3 Pollard’s bucket hands overcame the ‘Dhoni’ factor
CSK started their IPL 2013 campaign with an exciting contest against MI in their home venue. Ricky Ponting, the new MI skipper, won the toss and elected to bat first in the match 5 of IPL 2013. Mumbai had an abysmal start to their innings as they lost wickets in quick session. However, a 65-run partnership between Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh for the seventh wicket ensured that MI finished their innings on high with a below-par target of 149.
Since the target was under par, CSK were expected to effortlessly chase down the target and open their account in the points table. However, with CSK being CSK, the match went down until the last over as MI bowlers took wickets at regular intervals. CSK required 12 runs in the final over with MS Dhoni being the only genuine batsman in the crease. Though only two wickets were in hand for CSK, they were the hot favorites at that stage because of the ‘Dhoni’ factor.
Munaf Patel was given that arduous task of defending 12 runs from six balls. Patel bowled the first ball right in the slot for Dhoni who heaved it high in the direction of cow-corner. However, the big West Indies all-rounder, Kieron Pollard leapt high and plucked the ball in the air with his bucket hands. If not for Pollard, then the ball would have definitely crossed the boundary line.
It was an unfortunate dismissal for Dhoni as he failed to guide his team to the finishing line. In the end, only two runs were conceded in the last over, and MI won the match comfortably by nine runs.