Chennai Super Kings (CSK) started their IPL 2025 campaign with a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in a thriller on Sunday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Chasing 156, CSK rode on Rachin Ravindra’s unbeaten 65 and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 53 to romp home in 19.1 overs. Mumbai Indians had scored 155/9 after being sent into bat.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma departed without bothering the scorers as Mumbai Indians’s top-order struggled to get going. Stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav (29) and Tilka Varma (31) stabilised the innings a bit before Deepak Chahar’s fiery cameo of unbeaten 28 lent some respectability.
Here’s what happened in the CSK vs MI IPL 2025 clash.
Win powerplay, win the match
Batting first, Mumbai Indians lost three wickets in the first five overs. Making his debut for CSK, Khaleel Ahmed dismissed Rohit Sharma for a duck – his 18th in IPL and joint-most – and Ryan Rickelton. Ravichandran Ashwin, returning to CSK colours after 10 years took just four balls to get his first wicket, getting better of Will Jacks.
On the other hand, Chennai Super Kings were 62/1 in the powerplay. Ruturaj Gaikwad, batting at no.3 in order to provide better stability, vindicated the decision by smoking his fastest IPL fifty off just 22 balls.
Noor Ahmad applies the brakes
As Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma were resurrecting the Mumbai Indians innings with a 51-run stand for the fourth wicket, MS Dhoni, who made his international debut 10 days after Noor Ahmad was born, combined with the Afghanistan youngster to apply the brakes and send Suryakumar Yadav back into the hut.
At 43, MS Dhoni took just 0.12 seconds to affect a stumping against Suryakumar Yadav. The Mumbai Indians skipper didn’t even bother to wait for the third umpire’s confirmation.
Noor Ahmad took three more wickets and registered the best ever figures (4/18) for a CSK bowler on his IPL debut. Deepak Chahar, a former CSK pacer, hit a few lusty blows towards the end to take Mumbai Indians to a respectable, yet below par total of 155/9.
Vignesh Puthur provides hope for Mumbai
As Ruturaj Gaikwad was motoring away, 24-year-old Vignesh Puthur from Kerala, replacing Rohit Sharma as the impact substitute, delivered instantly. The left-arm spinner took the big wicket of Ruturaj Gaikwad in his very first over and accounted for Shivam Dube and Deepak Hooda to keep Mumbai Indians in the hunt.
However, it was Rachin Ravindra (65 off 45), who shifted gears with two sixes of Vignesh Puthur to reached his second IPL fifty. The Kiwi opener fittingly finished the game by smashing his national skipper and former CSK teammate Mitchell Santner for a six over deep mid wicket.
11:02 PM, Chepauk goes berserk
The Chennai faithful patiently waited for more than 4 hours to witness the magical event – MS Dhoni’s walk to the crease. As expected, it got the loudest whistles. MS Dhoni didn’t trouble the scorers as he safely negotiated the last two balls of the 19th over. The crowd didn’t mind. Why would they? They witnessed their hero – The man, the myth and the legend.
