Before toss on Thursday, the sound system at the Wankhede Stadium played ‘Believer’ by the band Imagine Dragons on loop. More than three hours and 185 balls later, Mumbai Indians had sucked the belief out of Chennai Super Kings’ camp by bringing the curtains down on its IPL 2022 campaign with a five-wicket win.
Batting first, M.S. Dhoni made 36 while the rest could muster only 46. CSK needed MI’s generous helping of 15 extras to limp to 97, its second-lowest total in IPL history. Dhoni’s desperation after an abject batting display was evident when off the first ball of MI’s chase, he went up for a lbw review despite the ball clearing pitching outside leg stump.
Mukesh Choudhary briefly raised hopes with his three for 23. But Tilak Varma and Hrithik Shokeen showed MI a glimpse of the promising future by stemming the rot with a 48-run fifth-wicket stand that eventually paved the way for an easy win in the end.
