IPL 2020: Twitter explodes as CSK extract revenge over the defending champions

The 13th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2020) got off to a rollicking start at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, as the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat the Mumbai Indians (MI) by 5 wickets.

The Men in Yellow fell to an agonising 1-run defeat in the final of last year's edition, but extracted revenge to gain their first win of IPL 2020 after 4 consecutive losses to the 4-time champions.

After CSK captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bowl first, MI skipper Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock got their team off to a flying start. Deepak Chahar and Lungi Ngidi were carted around in the powerplay, before Piyush Chawla picked up the crucial wicket of Rohit.

Despite losing the South African soon after, Suryakumar Yadav and Saurabh Tiwary steadied the ship. MI collapsed after the former holed out in the deep, with Hardik Pandya, Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard not capitalising. The defending champions finished their innings at 162/9, with Lungi Ngidi, Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Chahar making admirable comebacks.

In response, CSK got off to a woeful start as they lost Shane Watson and Murali Vijay to fiery spells from Trent Boult and James Pattinson. After finding themselves struggling at 6/2, Ambati Rayudu and Faf du Plessis stitched together a crucial partnership to revive the innings.

The former fell with a few overs to go, but Sam Curran, making his debut for CSK, played a gem of a cameo to turn the tide. Du Plessis added the finishing touches, with captain MS Dhoni's innings restricted to two scoreless balls.

Twitter exploded after the IPL 2020 season opener, and here's what the cricketing fraternity had to say.

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Twitter reacts to IPL 2020 season opener