IPL 8: Clinical Chennai chase down 184 easily to crush Mumbai

This is a big win for Chennai as they've made a mockery of a big run chase and won the game with 20 balls to spare. Rohit Sharma and Co. didn't have answers to the onslaught from McCullum and Smith. The deadly duo muscled the ball to all corners. The fact that even the likes of Malinga was smashed for 33 runs in his first two overs tells about their brutal hitting.

Smith completed his fifty off 22 balls and although Harbhajan removed both the openers in the same over, CHN had the match in their bag with the start they got. Raina then got some runs and sealed the game alongside Bravo. CHN were 90/0 in 6 overs, the second best powerplay score in the history of IPL.

Nehra is the Man of the Match.

 

Nehra: I am just working hard. T20 is a format when you don't get wickets when you are bowling well. It's important to pick wickets with the new ball. You have to be aggressive if you want to pick wickets, but it is still a batsman's game. I still believe bowlers are the ones who win you matches."

Dhoni: I was more worried about my bowling because it's a good wicket. We don't really get surprised if the opposition promotes someone up the order. Bhajji batted well in the last game and maybe that's why they promoted him. Our plan was to bowl dot balls at him. At times you want to bat first if the unit wasn't clicking. The reason why we bowled was because of the dew factor. I felt the first few overs were brilliant from our bowlers. We just want the guys to stay in a positive frame of mind.

Rohit: Pretty disappointed with the way we bowled and our attitude on the field wasn't right. I thought 183 was a good score, but we didn't execute our plans with the ball. There's no way they could score 90 runs in the first six overs. I think that's where we probably lost the game. We've been trying and possibly doing everything but it's not coming off, but they played well too. At the end of the day you need to get the combination right, that's what we were trying to do. I know it's not working out. We know we've got to find the right balance. If you don't win, nothing counts. Pretty disappointed to lose the game. We are not thinking anything right now, relax, take it easy and then think about our next match.