April 28
Place : Cape Town

It wasn’t exactly raining sixes and boundaries in the first match of the IPL, but nonetheless it proved to be thrilling. The opening match was almost doomed as rain-laden clouds were cast over but fortunately all went on without too many glitches. Of course the lack of rambunctious enthusiasm and the restrained intensity of vehemence were noticeable in the opening. That was a given since only India can give that factor to the series. The match was very interesting though.

The Mumbai Indians batted first and put up an impressive total of 165 with contributions coming in from many players. Sachin Tendulkar was brilliant and played the first fiddle by striking an unbeaten 59 runs. He was calm and composed when playing a captain’s innings.

Sanath Jayasuriya scored 26 off 22 balls, playing in his inimitable manner. The real hero for Mumbai Indians though was undoubtedly the young Abishek Nayar. He knocked 35 runs off just 14 balls. Not a single six had been hit until this maverick came along. He thumped 3 sixes in one over of Flintoff’s before succumbing in the next over. Shikhar Dhawan chipped in 22.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) began chasing but on a flawed note with Patel and Jacob Oram out for almost nothing. They lost wickets early with a small score on board. Mathew Haden played magnificiently and struggled to bring the ball in CSK’s court but wicket’s kept falling in quick sucessions at the other end. He put up 44 runs on the board.

Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga was the pick of the Mumbai Indians' bowlers with impressive figures of 4-0-15-3 while the crafty Jayasuriya claimed two wickets.

Flintoff contributed a decent 24 runs.  M.S.Dhoni the industrious captian tried to put up a partnership with Hayden and scored 36 runs in the attempt.

However the attempts by CSK to recover were thwarted by sharp bowling from Mumbai Indians. CSK played 20 overs and stood at 146 for 7, defeated by 19 runs.