Chennai Super Kings have overcome a top-order collapse to beat defending champions Mumbai Indians by 20 runs as the Indian Premier League resumed in Dubai following a four-month interruption.
The IPL was suspended in early May, nearly halfway through the Twenty20 competition, after several players from two of the eight franchises tested positive for COVID-19.
The league was finally shifted to the United Arab Emirates where the T20 World Cup will also be staged next month.
When the action resumed on Sunday, New Zealand fast bowlers Adam Milne (2-21) and Trent Boult (2-35) soon had Chennai, who'd elected to bat, in trouble at 4-24 inside the batting powerplay.
But opener Ruturaj Gaikwad's unbeaten 88 off 58 balls anchored the three-time champions to 6-156, with Dwayne Bravo hitting what would turn out to be 23 critical runs off eight balls, including three sixes.
"I felt Rutu (Gaikwad) and Bravo got us more than we expected," said Chennai skipper MS Dhoni.
"(Ambati) Rayudu got injured (retiring hurt at 0 not out), so it was tough to come back from there but we batted sensibly and finished superbly."
Mumbai, without rested captain Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya, struggled to put up partnerships against the experienced Bravo (3-25) and Deepak Chahar (2-19) before being restricted to 8-136.
Saurabh Tiwary was left stranded on 50 off 40 balls but he got little support from the other end.
Boult and Milne had been impeccable with the new ball as both ran through the top order inside the first six overs that included the wicket of Dhoni (3). The skipper walked off in disbelief when he holed out to Boult off Milne at deep square leg.
Jasprit Bumrah, playing in his 100th IPL game for Mumbai, was smacked for 24 in the penultimate over that included Bravo's three sixes.
Mumbai felt the absence of Sharma as they lost their two key batsmen - Quinton de Kock (17) and Suryakumar Yadav (3) - early on.
Deepak Chahar varied his pace intelligently to get rid of de Kock, and Suryakumar was brilliantly snapped by du Plessis, who had to run back and across from mid-on.
Ishan Kishan (11) also holed out off Bravo's slower delivery and, when Josh Hazlewood had stand-in captain Kieron Pollard (15) trapped leg before wicket in the 14th over, Chennai were in control.
"Losing by 20 runs, you know those were the extra runs we conceded," Pollard said. "Even though they got 150 plus as a batting team, we could've gotten that, (but) losing three wickets was a cardinal sin for us."
Chennai are now top with 12 points from eight games, with Mumbai fourth on eight points from their eight matches.
Australian Associated Press
