Chennai, March 23 (IANS) Fifties by Rachin Ravindra (65 not out) and captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (53) helped Chennai Super Kings kickstart their IPL 2025 campaign with a four-wicket win over Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.

After Noor Ahmad’s 4-18 and Khaleel Ahmed’s 3-29 helped CSK restrict MI to 155/9, Gaikwad mixed aggression and timing to hit six fours and three sixes while bringing up his fifty in 22 balls, his fastest half-century in the tournament.

Despite wickets falling from the other end, Ravindra held one end firm to hit an unbeaten 45-ball 65, laced with two fours and four sixes, as CSK completed a nervy win. For MI, who have not won their first match of an IPL season since 2012, debutant Vignesh Puthur’s spell of 3-32 would be the biggest positive.

Chasing 156, Deepak Chahar struck as Rahul Tripathi top-edged his short ball to keeper Ryan Rickleton in the second over. Gaikwad, coming out at number three, creamed two drives off Trent Boult for back-to-back fours, before pulling Chahar for six.

With debutant pacer Satyanarayana Raju giving the width, Gaikwad capitalised on his errors to hammer through square of the off-side, before pulling, whipping, and smashing Mitchell Santner for six and two fours, as CSK ended the power-play at 62/1. Post that, Gaikwad lofted Will Jacks inside-out for six, before bringing up his fifty in 22 balls. But Gaikwad fell for 53 when he looked to play the lofted straight drive against debutant Vignesh Puthur, but holed out to long-off.

Puthur, yet to play senior cricket for Kerala, had another big wicket when Shivam Dube holed out to the fielder near the straight boundary for nine, shortly after deceiving the spin hitter with a googly. Amidst all this, Ravindra, who was at 28 off 27 balls, signalled a shift in gears by dancing down the pitch and lofting Puthur for six. But the young spinner’s dream night continued as Deepak Hooda didn’t get elevation on the slog-sweep and was caught in the deep.

From there, CSK’s troubles began as after two quiet overs, Sam Curran tried to take on Jacks but was castled for four. With 31 runs needed off the last four overs, Ravindra Jadeja sliced Boult through backward point to collect a four in a 10-run 17th over.

Ravindra, meanwhile, brought up his fifty in 42 balls by hoicking Puthur over mid-wicket for six, before smoking him over long-on for another maximum. Though Jadeja was run out for 17, Ravindra finished off the chase in style by pulling Santner for six, much to the delight of the crowd, who also got to see MS Dhoni, who didn’t score a run, as CSK began their campaign with a win.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians 155/9 in 20 overs (Tilak Varma 31, Suryakumar Yadav 29; Noor Ahmad 4-18, Khaleel Ahmed 3-29) lost to Chennai Super Kings 158/6 in 19.1 overs (Rachin Ravindra 65 not out, Ruturaj Gaikwad 53; Vignesh Puthur 3-32, Deepak Chahar 1-18) by four wickets