On April 8th, Match No. 12 of IPL 2023 saw Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings battle it out at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. In the tournament’s first El Clasico, CSK emerged victorious with a seven-wicket win over the five-time champions, captained by Rohit Sharma. With this win, CSK moved up to fourth place in the points table, having secured four points from three matches.

Despite not getting to bat, MS Dhoni made his presence felt in the game. Ajinkya Rahane, making his debut for CSK, top-scored with 61 runs from just 27 balls, while Ruturaj Gaikwad remained unbeaten on 40 runs from 36 balls. Dhoni also contributed to the victory with a superb catch of world No.1 T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav and by demonstrating the effectiveness of the Dhoni Review System (DRS).

During the eighth over of MI’s innings, when Mitchell Santner was bowling for CSK, Suryakumar was trapped on the second ball of the over and caught behind by Dhoni. However, on-field umpire Nikhil Patwardhan was not convinced with the dismissal and gave his decision in the batter’s favour. But Dhoni was convinced there was a connection between the bat and the ball and challenged the umpire’s decision. Upon review, a clear spike between the bat and the ball was detected, resulting in Suryakumar’s exit from the field.

MI won the toss and chose to bat first but could only manage to post 157 runs on the board for the loss of eight wickets. In response, CSK lost opener Devon Conway for a duck in the first over but then Rahane and Gaikwad added 82 runs for the second wicket to turn the game in CSK’s favour. Shivam Dube contributed 28 runs from 26 balls, and Ambati Rayudu remained not out on 20 from 16 deliveries.