Stand-in captain Kieron Pollard was thrilled with the way the Mumbai Indians performed under his leadership on Friday after they inflicted the heaviest defeat ever suffered by the Chennai Super Kings in IPL history.

MI restricted CSK to 114 for 9,  a total largely due to a defiant 52 from all-rounder  Sam Curran. Trent Boult took career-best figures of 4 for 18 and Jasprit Bumrah and Rahul Chahar each took two wickets to destroy CSK’s batting. Pollard bowled one over for four runs.

Requiring a run-rate of less than six runs an over, Player of the Match Ishan Khan smashed an unbeaten 37-ball 68 and Quinton de Kock, a 37-ball 46, in an unbroken stand of 116 to take MI to a historic 10-wicket victory.

It was the first time CSK had been beaten by 10 wickets since the IPL began in 2008.

Pollard, who assumed duties as captain after Rohit Sharma was sidelined by a hamstring injury, praised his team’s performance.

“We wanted to bowl them out under 100 but Sam batted well. I think it was a total team effort. Two-three wickets early put you in the game and to get 4-5 is fantastic. And then the openers going out and finishing off and not leaving any uncertainty was good,” Pollard said during his post-game interview.

He indicated that MI has a specific goal in mind as they aim for a fifth IPL title.

“We want to finish top two and it's a matter of getting the points and then think about the opponents,” he said indicating that the team wants to play even better.

“There's always room for improvement, myself making some mistakes on the field, guys not being aware in certain situations. Maybe it's not technical, but it's things you need to speak about.”

Asked if he enjoyed being captain, Pollard, who earlier this year led the Trinbago Knight Riders to their fourth CPL title said: “Sometimes you don't actually have to be a leader to be a leader, I know a thing or two. So it was just a matter of me stepping in and it came off tonight. It was just matter of making right decisions, not giving them freebies.”