Xtra Time Web Desk: A brilliant 58 ball 88 from Ruturaj Gaikwad paved the way for a 20 runs win for Chennai Super Kings over Mumbai Indians in the first match of IPL 2021 second leg at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.
Gaikwad batted through the innings to lift Chennai Super Kings from a precarious 7/3 to 156 for six. The late spark was provided by Bravo (23 off 8 balls) as CSK recovered from a disastrous start to put up a fighting total.
Chasing 157 on a pitch where the ball often stopped on the batsmen, MI too were off to a poor start as they slipped to 58 for four in the tenth over with Quinton De Kock, Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan back in the hut.
Saurabh Tiwary (50 not out) and stand-in skipper Kieron Pollard tried to forge a partnership before Josh Hazlewood had the big-hitting all-rounder from Trinidad trapped in front of the wicket. Tiwary and Adam Milne tried but could not succeed, with the latter getting out to the experienced Bravo in the second ball of the 20th over.
Bravo picked up 3/25 while Chahar had 2/19 as MI ended at 136 for eight.
Earlier, the 24-year-old Gaikwad added 81 runs for the fifth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja (26) to steady the ship after they lost skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the sixth over with the score reading 24 for 4.
Gaikwad smashed nine fours and three sixes, while Bravo hit three maximums as CSK scored 112 runs in the back 10.
Mumbai Indians were without their regular skipper Rohit Sharma and all-rounder Hardik Pandya, whose seam-up bowling was missed when the Chennai duo was rebuilding their innings.