CHENNAI: It suddenly became unknown territory for Team Chennai at their Fort Chepauk and Mumbai made full use of it to get their IPL campaign off to a flying start.

The eight-wicket loss was CSK’s first in IPL at home since April 15, 2010 and it had a lot to do with the grass on the relaid pitch. The ball was doing a bit and the Mumbai Indians bowlers hit the right length, which made things difficult for the famed Chennai top-order. Once pushed to the back foot, it wasn’t easy for the batsmen to play with the kind of freedom that they are used to and the variety in the Mumbai attack did the rest.

Things got worse for Chennai with three run-outs ( Faf Du Plessis, MS Dhoni and R Ashwin) as the Mumbai fielders made use of every opportunity that came their way. The tone was set by Ambatti Rayudu in the very first over when he had Du Plessis with a direct hit from cover. The runs didn’t flow during the PowerPlay and as Chennai tried to take liberties against the spinners, they lost wickets to the guile of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha (2-17). Raina (36 off 26 balls) looked the dangerman for Mumbai, but he, too, holed out in the deep and Chennai were in trouble. And when Dhoni, a brilliant runner between the wickets, failed to beat a throw from Abu Nachem Ahmed, there was no way back for the Men in Yellow.

113 is hardly a target for Mumbai’s batting and all they had to do was not to lose early wickets. Sachin Tendulkar saw that Albie Morkel was making the ball talk and he left a few, which is a rarity in T20 cricket. And when there was anything marginally loose, Tendulkar made full use of it. There was a lot of interest about the other opener Richard Levi (50 off 35 balls), who was making his IPL debut. Levi, with the fastest T20 international ton, was under no pressure and with the Little Master guiding him, things became easy.

The Chepauk crowd, though, got a feel of Levi’s hitting talent as he hit a few out of the park with hardly any backlift. However, once he got out, there was a bit of a flutter as Rohit Sharma failed against the bouncing ball and got out while Tendulkar retired hurt after getting hit on his left hand by Doug Bollinger snorter that jumped from a length.

Things could have got trickier if Chennai had managed two more wickets at that stage, but James Franklin and Rayudu put their heads down finished the job.