And so, among the things that this match will be remembered for, Rohit's return to runs will be the biggest. The Mumbai cha raja showed what home-ground advantage means, even though it has taken some time to come. The win means that MI are the only team with eight points and are behind five teams with ten points apiece. The MI engine is heating up and starting to chug along, much like some of the other teams might have feared. On the opposite side of the spectrum are CSK, for whom everything is unravelling. Still a fair distance to go in the season. We'll be back with you with more IPL cricket tomorrow evening. On behalf of our scorers Venkat and Chandan, and my co-commentator Abhimanyu, this is Sudarshanan signing off for the night. Ciao, folks!
10:50pm The might of Mumbai annihilates CSK for the first time in five attempts. MI give back what they had received in their opening match of IPL 2025. Their bowlers rallied around to keep CSK to a below-par score on a flat track. And then when Rohit and Suryakumar decide to come to party, no target can be a tall one. It is just a treat for everyone watching irrespective of their allegiance. A warm hug from Dhoni to Rohit after the win was sealed but a lot to think for his team.
MS Dhoni, CSK captain: "We were quite below par. Knew dew would come in the second half. Bumrah one of the best death bowlers in the world, MI started their death bowling early, we should have started our slog early. We should have capitalised and got those runs. [Mhatre] Batted well, he picked his shots well. Wanted to play his shots, we also haven't seen him much. Odd ball was gripping. They played spin well. We never had a par score. If you give away too many in the first six. It wasn't like it was coming on nicely. We need to realise, we are successful because we play good cricket. But we need not get too emotional. We need to see if we are playing the right form or cricket, trying to put right amount of runs. A few more catches will help, we are trying to plug in the holes. Take one game at a time. Look at the combinations for the next season, if we don't qualify."
Suryakumar Yadav: "I told you before the game, there's a cake being baked at home. Excited to have it. Rohit has been a legend, he knows the game. There was a little bit of grip, he told me to play my shots and we did that. I have grown up in the maidans of Mumbai, you play a lot of cricket on red soil. That's where it comes from. As soon as the coach told you are going to bat at No. 3. You can't let Jadeja come on top. He has the experience but I trained for it yesterday. [on the move to No. 3] They were playing a lot of spinners. Important for me to put my hand up and go out. Even if it didn't work, it's okay, I had to take my chance. Important to understand what we want to do right now than look at the points table."
Sampath says last instance of Rohit Sharma remaining unbeaten in a successful IPL chase was in 2019.
Hardik Pandya, MI captain: "The way we are playing the sport. We knew it was going to be high-scoring. The way Rohit and Suryakumar bat, it is a relief from outside. You don't have to worry about Rohit's form. He's gonna come good like this. We knew when he comes good, the opposition will be out. SKY complemented him. People are stepping up. We have been sticking to basics. Percentage cricket is high, we are not trying magical stuff and sticking to simple cricket. Knew they were behind the game and wanted to keep it tight. The fast bowlers went for runs and we knew 175 was below par. We were not far from a good game. We had to figure out about closing the couple of balls that were costing us games."
Rohit Sharma, Player of the Match: "Wankhede wants to enjoy good cricket. After being here for a long time, it's easy to start doubting yourself and start doing different things. It was important for me to practice well, hit the ball well. When you are clear in your mind, things like this can happen. It has been a while but if you doubt yourself, you put pressure on yourself. It is important to balance how you want to play. Today I wanted to hit the ball but was also important to hold the shape and extend the arms. And then if the ball is in the arc, I wanted to try what i always do. It has not been happening consistently but I am not going to doubt myself. [Impact Player] Something we spoke about. Two or three overs doesn't make a huge difference. I came in in a few games and it doesn't help, if you are not switched on. Don't mind going for 4-5 overs as well, or if the team wants to me stay in the dugout and just bat. [Rohit Sharma Stand] Looks pretty far! Huge honour. I used to come here as a kid and watch the game. We were not allowed to come here at some stage. Grown up playing at this ground, now to have that stand, huge honour. Don't know how I will react when it actually comes up. Satisfying part was to finish the game. We are peaking at the right time, winning three on the trot. Winning back-to-back is important, we stand in a good position."
