Mumbai's 'tactical' changes didn't work but a Pollard masterclass bailed them out of trouble tonight as the defending champions ended CSK's winning run. Chennai, meanwhile, have some issues to address, especially their bowling at death. Will they persist with Ngidi? The El Clasico of IPL treated us with an absolute humdinger of a contest. Hope you enjoyed our coverage as much as we did bringing it you. Until tomorrow's double-header, it's goodbye from Abhinand Raghavendran on behalf of Pradeep Krishnamurthy, Ramakrishnan MS, Mukesh and Kumar Abhisekh Das.
Pollard | Man of the Match: I want to thank God, uncle Steven, watching over me and giving me the strength and courage. (On his bowling) They just lost a wicket in Moeen, it was the best time for a seamer to come and bowl. It worked, I got two wickets and another over which is fantastic. They had four overs of spin to bowl on a small ground, I saw if I could hit a couple of sixes and then try to take it from there. Only got two overs against spin and I had to maximise that over against Jadeja. If we stay in for a period of time, couple of sixes were always going to keep us in the game. You have to evolve, lot of practice goes into it. That has helped me tremendously. I can't say I'm 360, I am maximising more angles in the field. Dhawal's decent with the bat, but I needed to bat those six balls. That's the pressure you need to take as an individual. We have done this time and time again in terms of practice. It's just a matter of keeping calm and try to execute. We got over the line today, I was fortunate Faf gave me that chance. Overall, a good wicket. Two wins here, hopefully that gives us the momentum going into the middle phase and the back end of the tournament.
Rohit Sharma: Probably one of the best T20 games that I have ever been part of. I have never seen a chase like that before. One of best innings from Polly. Brilliant to see that from outside. Very happy with the effort the boys put in. Good pitch, smaller ground, we wanted to stay positive once we finished those 20 overs. We got off to a decent start and then we saw what happened. We had a brief chat during the interval in which we said it's a good pitch, back yourselves. We've got shot-makers in our batting line-up, so we just wanted to go there and express ourselves. A brilliant partnership at the top, then the Krunal-Pollard partnership was crucial to get to the target. When you're chasing a high score, you want your power-hitters to bat as many balls as possible. But we totally back Krunal to do the job as well. He's a good batter, he's batting really well, so we wanted to give him the opportunity. And left-handers always makes a difference, they had an off-spinner but we wanted to make sure that they bat as long as possible and set the platform for guys like Polly, Hardik in the back end. It (Delhi pitch) suits our style of play. Yes, the bowlers will be under pressure but that's when you want to back your bowlers to get the job done. Last game against RR, the bowlers brought us back into the game. There'll be a game where the bowlers will go for runs. It's all about backing your core group of bowlers and I am very sure they'll get the job done more often.
Most runs scored in last 10 overs in a successful IPL run chase:
138 MI vs CSK Delhi 2021 * (Pollard 87* off 34)
133 MI vs PBKS Mumbai WS 2019 (Pollard 83 off 31)
126 PBKS vs RCB Mohali 2013
Hardik Pandya: After winning this sort of a game you got to be pumped for the rest of the night I guess. When he (Pollard) does something like this you are genuinely speechless. The best part was he has done it over the years again and again. Bloody... Fantastic. I mean I will say inspirational to watch someone do it consistently and on his day do something this amazing. I would have loved to finish the game, but us winning the game was more important. 210 (218)... the game can't get better than this. Especially for me when you are chasing something like this you don't have to think much. You bloody go and swing. The best part was the six I hit.. I didn't even hit it properly. For me it's more important. I feel we have arrived at the right time of the tournament now. I feel for us this game was very important This momentum is going to help us do wonders I think. Again special mention to Polly, I am just very proud of him.
MS Dhoni: It was a brilliant wicket. The difference was the execution. Not being too tough on bowlers, we dropped catches at crucial intervals. The bowlers would execute better and learn from this. If you look how it went. we were very off target?when it came to execution. It is important to do that. The wicket was easy to hit. In a tournament like this, you will win and lose a few close games. When you are under the pump, you learn a lot. Irrespective where we are in the points table, we take one game at a time. We hardly ever focus where we are standing on the table. That has been our good point along the way.
Pollard, literally, out-muscled CSK with the bat in his hand. With a small ground and a batting-friendly pitch to his advantage, the Caribbean kept hitting boundaries for fun. He smashed a 17-ball fifty and single-handedly took his team over the line. Curran bowled a brilliant 17th over and Ngidi kept doling out full tosses in the final over, but there was one decisive moment - Faf dropped the big man on 68 in the 18th over and the T20 veteran ensured that Chennai paid dearly for that. Mumbai needed 105 off the last 7 overs and Pollard pulled off a spectacular win. Hang around for the presentations...
23:31 Local Time, 18:01 GMT, 23:31 IST: IPL's biggest rivalry did live up to the build-up! Didn't it? Surely, surely, we couldn't have asked for a better game. Faf's fourth consecutive half-century, Moeen's stylish half-century, Rayudu's assault and Bumrah's most expensive spell resulted in CSK registering their highest total against MI. In reply, the defending champions got off to a brisk start, thanks to their openers. But, they lost three wickets in three overs and were reduced to 81/3 in the tenth over. Clearly, CSK were the favourites at that stage, but their nemesis - Pollard - had other ideas. Mind you, the West Indies all-rounder did his bit with the ball too by applying the brakes in the middle overs of the first innings by picking back-to-back wickets. But that was just the trailer...
Ngidi to Pollard, 2 runs, Mumbai have won it! Ngidi finally bowls it in the right channel. A yorker length ball, Pollard jams it to the right of long-on and the batsmen have to come back for the second. By the time the throw comes to the bowler's end, Kulkarni is comfortably in. WHAT A GAME!
Ngidi to Pollard, SIX, Ngidi continues to dole out full tosses, Pollard swivels and wallops it over backward square leg for a maximum! Just two needed now..
8 off 2
Ngidi to Pollard, no run, full toss, Pollard swings hard and Thakur makes a good stop running in from deep backward square leg. It didn't carry, but he did really well to stop that. Single not taken
8 of 3
Ngidi to Pollard, FOUR, horrible ball! A high full toss, probably just below waist and Pollard pulls it fine of short fine leg
Ngidi to Pollard, FOUR, 139.9kph, that's unfair for the bowler! He's bowled a yorker, but Pollard has somehow managed to squirt it away off the inside edge. Through his legs and the ball speeds away through backward square leg. Nat-megged
16 off 5!
Ngidi to Pollard, no run, 137.3kph, low full toss, whipped to the left of deep square leg and Pollard doesn't take the single! Thakur releases the ball quickly
Lungi Ngidi [3.0-0-46-0] is back into the attack
Dhawal Kulkarni, right handed bat, comes to the crease
Right then, 16 needed off six deliveries. Pollard's on strike as the batsmen didn't cross over. What can Ngidi do? Dhoni calmly adjusting the field...