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Rayudu: The MI-CSK rivalry is real (9:50)

Rayudu and Chawla, who have played for both franchises, speak about being part of the IPL’s biggest rivalry (9:50)

Mar 23, 2025, 12:07 PM ET

Chennai Super Kings’ work during the off-season paid immediate dividends with four of their new bowlers taking nine wickets between them to restrict Mumbai Indians to 155 for 9 in perhaps the most-anticipated league clash in IPL 2025. Among those, the two left-arm bowlers – Khaleel Ahmed with new-ball movement and Noor Ahmad with left-arm wristspin – caused the most damage. Noor’s 4-0-18-4 were his best IPL figures, and also the best for a CSK spinner against MI. Khaleel did his job with two wickets in two overs upfront before coming back at the death and rounding up with a third wicket with his last involvement on the night.

Notorious for their slow starts to the IPL, MI started off slow again with former captain Rohit Sharma scoring a four-ball duck. Khaleel drew just enough seam movement to make a big hit difficult before getting what looked like soft wickets: Rohit caught at forward square leg and Ryan Rickelton playing on. R Ashwin, back in yellow, took his 91st IPL wicket for CSK in his first over back, reducing MI to 36 for 3 in 4.4 overs.

MI now needed their engine room of Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav to rescue them and take them to a fighting total. For a while they stayed in the contest with a 51-run fourth-wicket stand, but this is when Noor began to strike. Suryakumar was stumped spectacularly off a wrong’un, debuant Robin Minz fell under the pressure of a slow start, Tilak was trapped on the crease by another wrong’un, and Noor capped it by bowling right-hand batter Naman Dhir around his legs with another wrong’un.

Nathan Ellis, another CSK newcomer, then got the wicket of former CSK player Mitchell Santner, reducing chances of a late fightback. It did arrive, though, in the shape of a Deepak Chahar cameo of 28 off 15.