Chennai Super Kings defeated the then-defending champion Mumbai Indians on the first day of the season on April 7, 2018, in a heart-pounding thriller at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, making a grand entrance into the Indian Premier League.
Chennai proved to everyone why they are one of the most popular franchises and why MS Dhoni’s “Men in Yellow” were sorely missed in 2017 and 2016 when they made their IPL comeback after serving a two-year suspension for their staff members’ involvement in spot-fixing.
In a thrilling match between MI and CSK on the opening day of the 2018 IPL season, Dhoni, making his comeback as CSK captain, won the toss and decided to bowl first. With MI’s score at 20/2 after 3.5 overs, Deepak Chahar and Shane Watson quickly removed Mumbai’s openers, Evin Lewis and Rohit Sharma, giving the home team a difficult start.
The slump, however, was halted by wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav, who controlled the situation and created a strong stand for themselves. Before Surya was out for 43 off 29 balls to Watson in the 13th over and Kishan was out for a 29-ball 40 to Imran Tahir two overs later, the two batted sensibly and brought Mumbai’s total to 98.
Things were slowed down by the two fast wickets, but the Pandya brothers made sure Mumbai had a respectable total on the board and raised Mumbai’s score to 165/4 from their 20 overs. Although Krunal took up the aggressive role and completed with an undefeated 41 off 22 balls, Hardik was still standing at 22*.
Chennai needed to chase down 166 in order to win, and although they had a strong start, they soon began to lose ground and wickets at regular intervals, with all of Watson, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, and Chahar falling in rapid succession. Chennai seemed to be in for a difficult recovery when the score was 84/6 after 13 overs, but Dwayne Bravo had other ideas.
Bravo and the tail were able to contribute runs, and after losing Mark Wood and Harbhajan Singh by the middle of the 16th over, he persisted. The West Indian and Tahir had a 41-run partnership in only 15 deliveries for the ninth wicket, including 20 runs in the 19th over from Jasprit Bumrah, bringing CSK’s total to 159/9 after 19 overs.
Bravo was struck by the last ball of the over after hitting three sixes off of Bumrah, and it was assumed that the game was already over since Kedar Jadhav had hurt himself earlier and had left the field injured. Well, not that day. On his second at-bat, Jadhav blasted a six and a four against Mustafizur Rahman’s fourth and fifth pitches, giving CSK a one-ball victory.
Jadhav ultimately emerged victorious, but Bravo was named Man-of-the-Match for his spectacular 68 off only 30 balls as the season got off on a dramatic note.
In the end, CSK won the IPL, becoming the third league team to do so.
