Mumbai, April 7 (IANS) Mumbai Indians posted 165/4 in 20 overs against Chennai super Kings (CSK) in the opening match of the 11th Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket tournament here on Saturday.
Suryakumar Yadav (43 off 29 deliveries), Krunal Pandya (41 not out off 22), Ishan Kishan (40 off 29) and Hardik Pandya (22 not out off 20) were the main contributors for three-time champions Mumbai.
After CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl, these four Mumbai batsmen helped the hosts recover from a poor start which resulted from the dismissals of openers Ervin Lewis (0), Rohit Sharma (15) inside 20 runs.
While seamer Deepak Chahar got an LBW verdict against Lewis, Rohit was dismissed after a top-edge off veteran medium pacer Shane Watson was caught by Ambati Rayudu at backward point.
Ishan and Suryakumar shared 78 runs for the third wicket to pull the hosts out of trouble. But the stand was ended by Australian Watson, who got rid of the latter by having him caught by Harbhajan Singh at deep square leg in the 13th over.
Ishan then fell to South African leg-spinner Imran Tahir, leaving his side at 113/4 in 14.4 overs.
Thereafter, the Pandya brothers began their partnership. Though the national team star Hardik struggled to get big hits, his elder sibling Krunal dealt some lusty blows.
Left-hander Krunal hit two fours and five sixes as his blitz lifted Mumbai to a challenging total at the Wankhede Stadium.
Brief scores: Mumbai: 165/4 (Suryakumar Yadav 43, Krunal Pandya 41 not out, Ishan Kishan 40, and Hardik Pandya 22 not out; Shane Watson (2/29), Deepak Chahar (1/13) vs Chennai.
