IPL 2023: Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings, Match 12 – Talking Points and Who Said What?

Mumbai Indians suffered another heavy defeat as they lost against Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets in the 12th match of the Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL) at Wankhede Stadium on Saturday (April 8). The hosts put in a total of just 157/8 while batting first as Ravindra Jadeja shone with three wickets and Mitchell Santer bagged two wickets. CSK debutant Ajinkya Rahane recorded his fastest IPL fifty in just 19 balls and in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad added unbeaten 40 runs to register an easy chase with 11 balls to spare.

Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma handed Mumbai a quick start in the hope of a big total. But Rohit’s dismissal in the fourth over changed the momentum towards CSK. Ishan top-scored with 32 off 21 while Tim David added 31 off 22 to help Mumbai post a fighting total at home.

Jason Behrendorff gave Mumbai the start they needed with Devon Conway’s wicket on the innings’ fourth delivery. But they failed to capitalize on that as Rahane quickly put Chennai in a comfortable position by smashing a 19-ball fifty. He scored 61 off 27 and Gaikwad added 40* off 36 to carry Chennai Super Kings to a seven-wicket win with no trouble.

Let’s look at the Talking Points from the game-

Ajinkya Rahane to positively disturb CSK’s preferred eleven?

The 34-year-old top-order batter made his CSK debut in style as he recorded the joint second-fastest half-century for the franchise. He missed the first two games but got an opportunity with Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali out injured. Both the overseas stars are expected to return to playing eleven in the next game and it will definitely put the management in an awkward position.

Rahane has earned his place and might play no.3 position for the next few games at the expense of one bowler as both Stokes and Moeen can contribute with the ball.

Mumbai Indians in for another disappointing season?

Another disappointing night for the five-time champions as they produced a few more negative outcomes at home. The star Indian trio of Rohit, Ishan, and Suryakumar Yadav failed again while big-money signing Cameron Green scored just 12 runs. He has scored 17 and has taken just one wicket from his two opening innings after costing Mumbai Indians INR 17.5 crore. 

Mumbai’s bowling woes

In bowling, Jofra Archer missed the game due to a minor injury, and that clearly depleted Mumbai’s pace attack. Arshad Khan conceded runs at an economy rate of 16.15 while the spin trio of Piyush Chawla, Hrithik Shokeen, and Kumar Kartikeya lacked the quality to make a game-changing impact. So, it will not be hard to predict another poor season for Mumbai Indians.

Losing captain, Rohit Sharma said

We lost our way in the middle, did not capitalise on the start we got. It was a good pitch, 30-40 runs short and could not capitalise in the middle overs. Got to credit their spinners, they bowled well and kept us under pressure. You need to try out different things, you need to attack and be brave. We have got a couple of young guys and got to give some time to them. They have real talent and we have to back them and show trust in their ability which we are doing. The senior guys need to step up starting with me. We know the nature of IPL, when the tournament starts we need to get some momentum and when you don’t it is tough. Just two games and all is not lost still. If you win, you can win a few on the trot and when you lose it is hard to come out of that momentum. Hopefully things start to change. Things we speak in the changeroom has not worked in the middle. We know we had a very disappointing last season, but we always start afresh, even when we won the 5 trophies, we never thought we won it last year. Every opposition is quality here and we need to be at our best to beat them. These two games has happened, we can’t change. Of course we can learn and be more brave in changing things on the field.

Winning captain, MS Dhoni said

Feels good. Not to forget we lost Deepak in the first over. He’s our new ball bowler and Magala playing his first match. The good thing is spinners bowled well. It was a bit two-paced after 7 overs, started turning. The spinners and the fast bowlers came back well. Magala was good and so was Pretorius. We believe in him, and when you’re new you are under pressure but playing in the IPL for a few years brings different pressure [on Deshpande]. He had a great domestic season, he is improving. He has a lot of potential but he can improve by not bowling those no-balls, and by being more consistent. Me and Jinks spoke at the start of the season and I told him to play to his strengths, use your ability to manipulate the fields. I told him to go and enjoy, don’t take stress and we’ll back you. He batted well and he was not happy with the way he got out, that says it all. I think every game is important, you look at the problems in front of you and take it one step at a time, not look at the league table for now.

Player of the Match, Ravindra Jadeja said

When we were bowling, the odd ball was turning. So me and Mitch wanted to bowl in good areas because they have so many powerhitters. Everytime we come here, the wicket plays different – sometimes it is flat, sometimes it is sticky. (On partnership with Santner) We surely discuss, whoever starts advises the other person on what lengths to bowl. We keep talking and advising each other.