Bravo takes 3-25, scores eight-ball 23 as CSK defeat Mumbai by 20 runs in Dubai
CSK won the toss and elected to bat and must have been regretting that decision after they got off to a disastrous start slumping to 24-4 by the end of the Powerplay as Trent Boult and Adam Milne wreaked havoc on their top order.
In dire straits, Chennai owed their recovery to 156-6 to Man-of-the-Match Putara Gaikwad, who scored an unbeaten 88 from 58 balls. Gaikwad hit nine fours and four sixes as he successfully balanced prudence with aggression while stitching together a critical fifth-wicket partnership of 81 with Ravindra Jadeja.
Jadeja faced 33 balls before Jasprit Bumrah had him caught by Kieron Pollard for 26.
Gaikward and Bravo, who was playing his 100th match for CSK, put up an additional 39 for the sixth wicket with the latter scoring 23 off just eight balls. Bravo, who last week led St Kitts and Nevis Patriots to their first Hero CPL title, hit three sixes before he became Bumrah’s second victim going for another big hit over cover.
Bumrah returned figures of 2-33, while Milne and Boult, who did the early damage, ended with figures of 2-21 and 2-35, respectively.
Chasing 157 for victory, Bravo took 3-23 to restrict Mumbai to 136-8, despite an unbeaten even 50 from Saurabh Tiwary.
Two wickets from Deepak Chahar had Mumbai in early trouble at 37-3 inside six overs.
Tiwary tried to keep the innings together but Mumbai lost wickets regularly mainly via Bravo’s intervention. The veteran Trinidadian was also instrumental in running out the dangerous Krunal Pandya for four that had the defending champions in trouble at 94-6.
Bravo then took the wickets of Milne for 15 and Chahar for a duck to seal the victory.