IPL 2021: Records shattered as MI pulls off a thriller against CSK, thanks to Pollard's elegance

This was Mumbai Indians' fourth win of the 2021 Indian Premier League, as along with three losses, it stays at the fourth spot. Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings suffered its second loss of the season, while with five wins, it remains atop the table.

It was an absolute thriller again as defending champion Mumbai Indians came up with a champion's performance to sneak past former champion Chennai Super Kings by four wickets in a thrilling fashion in Match 27 of the 2021 Indian Premier League at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday. In a high-scoring last-ball thriller, it was all-rounder Kieron Pollard who played a magnificent knock of an unbeaten 87 to help MI chase down an enormous total of 219.

It overpowered CSK's Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu with respective half-centuries. Meanwhile, quite some records shattered in the process.

Rayudu slams a fastest
Rayudu scored his 20th IPL half-century tonight in just 20 deliveries. Consequently, it was the joint second-fastest 50 by a CSK player, along with MS Dhoni against the same side in 2012. The record lies with Suresh Raina (16) against Punjab Kings in 2014.

Jasprit Bumrah records some unwanted
Bumrah had an expensive outing tonight, giving away 56 runs. As a result:
- It was his most expensive spell in the IPL, going past 55 against Delhi Capitals in 2015 at the same venue.
- It was his third instance of leaking 50-plus runs in an IPL innings overall.
- It was the fourth most costly spell by an MI bowler, while the highest happens to be 58 by Lasith Malinga (vs PBKS, 2017).

CSK produces some best
- CSK currently has a run rate of 12.85 in the death overs (between 16-20 overs) this season. It is the best by any side so far, with Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second (10.32).
- It was the first time in IPL history that a side has had twin century stands in an IPL match (Du Plessis-Moeen: 108 and Rayudu-Jadeja: 102*).
- CSK slammed the most sixes in an IPL innings against MI (16), going past KKR's 15 in 2019.

Suresh Raina starts at lowest
Raina played his 200th game tonight and could manage just a couple. Meanwhile, with a strike rate of 136.99 before the match, it was his lowest before playing his milestone 50th IPL game.

MI bowlers give away the most
The top three bowlers of MI (Trent Boult, Dhawal Kulkarni and Bumrah) gave away 146 runs tonight. It is the most by the same for any team in the IPL to date, going past Iqbal Abdulla, Varun Aaron and Abu Nechim's 144 for RCB against MI in 2015.

Moeen exhibits a unique one
Moeen played a commendable innings of 58. Involving five fours and five sixes, it was the lowest IPL score produced by a batsman, going past Shane Watson's 60 against CSK in 2010.

Pollard breaks some big ones
Pollard played a magical innings of an unbeaten 90 that involved eight sixes. Consequently:
- He registered the most sixes against CSK in the IPL, going past Kohli's 35.
- He has slammed the joint-fastest 50 (17 balls) for MI in the IPL yet again, having done so in 2016 against Kolkata Knight Riders, while he shares the feat with Ishan Kishan (vs KKR, 2018) and Hardik Pandya (vs KKR, 2019).
- It was also the fastest half-century of this IPL, going past Prithvi Shaw's 18.
- It was the fastest 50 against CSK in the tournament, going past KL Rahul and Sanju Samson's 19 in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
- With Pollard's quickfire half-century, this was the first IPL game where two batsmen slammed their respective 50s in less than 20 deliveries.
- He played the second-fastest innings of 75-plus during a successful IPL chase (87 off 34 balls), while fastest, too, happens to be by Pollard (83 off 31) against PBKS.

MI scripts some great ones
MI chased down a mammoth target of 219 off the final delivery. As a result:
- It has become the second-highest successful chase in the competition's history, with the highest being 224, by Rajasthan Royals, against PBKS in 2020.
- It has now scored the most runs in the final ten overs of a successful run chase in the tournament, going past its previous best of 133 against PBKS in 2019.
- It was MI's first-ever successful 200-plus chase, while Sunrisers Hyderabad is now the only IPL side to have not done the same.

Match summary
Winning the toss and electing to bowl, MI might have thought that the decision was a bad idea. CSK batsmen Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu nailed it with their respective half-centuries, posting a monstrous target of 219. Nonetheless, in reply, Pollard anchored the innings with an unbeaten 87, as subtle contributions from others helped MI pull off a final-ball thriller and win it by four wickets.
Brief scores: CSK 218/4 (Du Plessis- 50, Moeen- 58, Rayudu- 72*; Pollard- 2/12) vs MI 219/6 (De Kock- 38, Rohit- 35, Krunal- 32, Pollard- 87*; Curran- 3/34) by four wickets.

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