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Stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav felt Mumbai Indians fell 15 to 20 runs short while putting up a "commendable" fight against Chennai Super Kings in the high-stakes clash during the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.
In the latest chapter of IPL's 'El Clasico', Mumbai Indians (MI) found themselves surrounded by a vibrant yellow wave of fans at Chepauk. The toss fell in CSK's favour, and MI found itself in a position to bat first. Signs of struggle started to become palpable when seasoned opener Rohit Sharma walked back with a four-ball duck to his name. Left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad caught MI's middle order in his web, which dented their hopes of putting up a fighting total on the board. A sturdy 51-run partnership from Suryakumar and Tilak Varma laid the foundation for MI to limp its way to 155/9. While MI considerably failed in the spin trial, many speculated the total to be a tad short than what many expected. Suryakumar shared similar views after the match and said, "Absolutely. We were 15-20 runs short, but the fight the boys showed was commendable." Despite falling a bit short on the scoreboard, MI found an unlikely hero: debutant Vignesh Puthur, who kept them in the game. Described as a breath of "fresh air" by Varun Aaron, Vignesh hadn't played a single domestic game before featuring in MI's playing XI. For his maiden wicket, he got the crucial scalp of CSK captain Rututaj Gaikwad by having him caught in the deep. He came back to haunt the hosts by sending Shivam Dube and Deepak Hooda cheaply. However, Rachin Ravindra stayed till the end and smoked the ball into the stands for a towering maximum to seal a four-wicket win for the hosts. "Amazing, MI is known for that - giving youngsters opportunities. The scouts do this for 10 months, and he (Vignesh) is a product of that. I kept his one over in the pocket if the game went deep, but it was a no-brainer to give him the 18th over," Suryakumar added. While Rachin was the backbone of CSK's successful chase, Suryakumar felt it was his counterpart, Gaikwad's explosive 53, that took the game away from them. "There wasn't any dew, but it was sticky, the way Ruturaj batted in the second innings took the game away from us," he concluded. (ANI)
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