The China Mail - Clinical Chennai down Mumbai to keep playoff hopes alive

In a clash of two teams sharing 10 titles between them, Chennai kept Mumbai, who elected to bat first, down to 159-7 at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

Captain Gaikwad and Kartik Sharma then put on an unbeaten stand of 98 to steer the team home with 11 balls to spare and bounce back from a big defeat in their previous outing.

Gaikwad anchored the chase and Sharma hit the winning four in his 54 as five-time champions Chennai moved to sixth place in the 10-team table.

Mumbai, who have also won the IPL five times and lost their second match to Chennai this season, languish in the ninth spot with seven defeats in nine matches.

"Not the season," said Mumbai skipper Hardik Pandya. "They played better, they bowled better, they fielded better and they batted better."

Chennai lost an early wicket but Gaikwad struck his second successive half-century to keep his side on track.

Pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah took down Sanju Samson, caught behind for 11, in his first over before Urvil Patel counter-attacked in his 12-ball 24.

Afghanistan spinner A.M. Ghazanfar bowled Patel to raise some hopes for Mumbai, but Gaikwad stood firm to raise his fifty from 34 balls to put Chennai on course.

Opener Gaikwad hit five fours and two sixes in his 48-ball knock.

The bowlers set up victory as left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad struck two key blows including Ryan Rickelton, for 37, and Tilak Varma, for five, before medium-pace bowler Anshul Kamboj took 3-32.

Noor returned impressive figures of 2-26.

Naman Dhir top-scored with 57 but struggled to find momentum during his knock and finally fell to England pace bowler Jamie Overton, who claimed 1-23 in his four overs.

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