Mumbai Indians 116 for 0 (Kishan 68*, de Kock 46*) beat Chennai Super Kings 114 for 9 (Curran 52, Boult 4-18, Bumrah 2-25, Rahul Chahar 2-22) by 10 wickets

IPL 2020 had begun with the Chennai Super Kings surging to a five-wicket win against the Mumbai Indians. The return fixture between the two with more than two thirds of the league stage gone illustrated how divergently the tournament has gone for each side. Mumbai demolished the Super Kings by 10 wickets in 12.2 overs, having put up a clinical bowling display and followed it up with a dominant opening stand between Ishan Kishan and Quinton de Kock. Mumbai joined the Delhi Capitals and the Royal Challengers Bangalore on 14 points, but with the best net run rate to top the table.

Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah wrecked the Super Kings top order after putting them in, with high-quality, accurate seam bowling. The Super Kings floundered to 3 for 4 in the third over, the second-lowest score at four wickets down in IPL history. That was only one of the lows that the Super Kings touched - and there was no coming back from a powerplay score of 24 for 5, the third-most wickets lost in a powerplay ever.

Boult and Bumrah were irresistible at the top, and Mumbai didn't even feel the absence of regular captain Rohit Sharma, sitting out with a hamstring strain which gave Kieron Pollard his second game in charge in the IPL. The Super Kings had made a host of changes, bringing back Ruturaj Gaikwad and N Jagadeesan and handing Imran Tahir his first game of the tournament, but none of those bore much effect.

Boult struck in his first two overs, Bumrah took two in two balls in his first over. Boult would go on to take one more powerplay wicket, and ended the Super Kings innings by getting his fourth for a career-best 4 for 18 in the IPL. Sam Curran - back to No.7 in the batting order - was the lone point of resistance for the Super Kings with a well-compiled 52, but all he could do was ensure the total went into triple figures. With Sharma absent, Mumbai sent Kishan to partner de Kock at the top and he promptly smashed the bowlers around in his 68* off 37, while de Kock played the ideal supporting role with a 37-ball 46.

Powerplay pandemonium

Boult began by swinging the ball away from Gaikwad, before bringing one back in to rap him on the pads. He successfully convinced Pollard to go for the review, and the decision went the bowler's way. Pollard gave Bumrah the new ball to share - something Bumrah has done just once before in IPL 2020 - and he promptly delivered a one-two punch. Ambati Rayudu was caught behind off the glove, the ball getting big on him after being banged in short. Jagadeesan got one in the channel that he poked at, to be gobbled up at wide slip. Boult then struck a crucial blow getting Faf du Plessis to edge behind too with feet cemented to the crease. There was a change of ends for Boult inside the powerplay, but that made no difference to his wicket-taking, with Ravindra Jadeja pulling a short ball straight to short midwicket.

There was nowhere to hide for the Super Kings after that burst, and the rest of the innings was about trying to salvage things and not get bowled out.

Curran's resistance

He was back at No. 7 but found himself batting in the powerplay nonetheless. With the innings floundering, Curran opted to bat sensibly and try to bat through, reining in his naturally attacking instincts in the shortest format. He found partners who could stick around with him in Shardul Thakur and Tahir, as the Super Kings began the laborious process of padding up the score to whatever extent was possible. He picked up the boundary where possible as Pollard deployed the spinners and Nathan Coulter-Nile through the middle overs, and at the end, Tahir even ramped Bumrah for a four over the wicketkeeper, but that moment and Curran getting to fifty were the only ones that brought any cheer in the Super Kings innings.

Rahul Chahar continued his good run too, getting two wickets, including that of first cousin Deepak Chahar - the first time he was bowling to Deepak in the IPL.

Kishan, de Kock land devastating blows

What the Super Kings needed up top was tight bowling and quick wickets in the powerplay. What they got was Kishan's flashing blade punishing any errors in line or length. de Kock was happy to play the supporting role as Kishan began blazing away from the start, deflating whatever little chance of contest was there in the match. Kishan's first ball was crashed through the covers when Josh Hazlewood was short and wide outside off. In the fifth over, he took Deepak Chahar for 14 runs in three balls.

When Tahir came on to bowl, Kishan - who had fallen to him five times earlier - showed no fear, hitting him for a six each straight back in the eighth and tenth overs. In between, he got to fifty with back-to-back sixes off Jadeja. By then, the match had become a batting exhibition for Mumbai's openers, and a chance to swell their individual tallies while bumping up the team's net run rate significantly too.