By Prakash Nair 
Mumbai, April 23: The Wankhede floodlights were barely warm when Sarfaraz Khan walked to the crease tonight and decided that subtlety was not going to be his approach.
Not tonight. Not here. Not against Bumrah.
The Six That Set the Tone
Sarfaraz Khan opened his account with a six off Jasprit Bumrah. Read that again. A six. Off Bumrah. In the powerplay. At the Wankhede. In an MI vs CSK match.
The crowd went quiet for a second, then very loud very quickly. That is the Sarfaraz effect. He does not ease himself in. He does not respect reputations at the crease. He walks out, sees the ball, and hits it. Sometimes into the stands. Sometimes off the best fast bowler on the planet.
That six said something important about where CSK’s head was at tonight. They were not going to be intimidated by the occasion or the opposition. They were going to go after it from ball one, regardless of what the bowling attack looked like.
What Sarfaraz Actually Did Out There
Sarfaraz Khan was eventually dismissed for 14 off 8 balls, bowled by Mitchell Santner. The numbers look modest. The impact was anything but.
The dismissal came in a manner that summed up the batter’s approach entirely. Santner bowled a full-length off break on the stumps. Sarfaraz hung in the crease, bold as ever, attempting to play through the line. The ball crashed into the stumps. Bowled. He had no complaints. That is the risk you accept when you play that way.
But in those 8 balls, he had already done damage. He had taken on Bumrah in the powerplay and connected. He had sent a message to the MI bowlers that CSK were not going to sit back and play percentage cricket tonight. And alongside him, Sanju Samson had already begun to take control of the innings in a way that suggested CSK’s total was going to be a serious one.
The Partnership That Mattered
While Sarfaraz was at the crease, it was Samson who dominated the strokeplay. A boundary and a clean six headlined one particular over, with Samson taking charge and keeping the momentum flowing. Sarfaraz contributed through strike rotation and the odd aggressive shot, but Samson was the senior partner, playing with real confidence and composure.
That combination, a fearless strokemaker at one end giving the anchor batter room to play his natural game, is exactly what CSK needed from their top order after the chaos of recent weeks. Mhatre is injured. Gaikwad has not found his best form. The pressure on whoever comes in to set the table has been enormous all season.
Tonight Sarfaraz and Samson gave CSK exactly the kind of start that changes how the rest of the innings looks.
Ghazanfar Gets Gaikwad, But CSK Keep Going
MI got a key breakthrough when AM Ghazanfar removed Ruturaj Gaikwad, who had looked in good touch before falling while trying to attack again. The CSK captain was dismissed attempting to go on the offensive, which was how he had approached the innings from the start, taking Hardik Pandya apart in one big over before Ghazanfar pulled things back and took the wicket.
At that point, CSK were 80 for 2 after 6.3 overs, running at a current rate of 12.31, with the last wicket being Sarfaraz Khan bowled by Santner for 14 off 8 balls.
That is a powerplay score that most T20 teams would accept without hesitation. Two wickets gone, but 80 on the board and the full batting depth of Chennai still to come. The platform had been set.
Why This Sarfaraz Knock Matters More Than the Scorecard Suggests
In IPL cricket, context is everything. Sarfaraz Khan batting at number three for CSK in a do-or-die match at the Wankhede, coming in after the openers, and immediately hitting Bumrah over the ropes, that is not just a statistic. That is a statement of intent from a player who was supposed to be one of the supporting cast tonight.
He did not score a fifty. He did not rescue a crisis. But he walked in, removed all doubt about how CSK were going to approach this innings, and helped build the platform that Samson is now building on further.
There is a version of this CSK innings that ends around 160 if the top order plays cautiously and lets MI dictate early. Sarfaraz made sure that version never happened. He took the game on, took his chances, and made MI earn every ball they bowled in that powerplay.
Getting bowled by Santner trying to hit through a turning ball on the stumps is the kind of dismissal that comes with the territory when you bat the way Sarfaraz bats. He would not change a thing.
Nor should he.
The innings is still going. CSK have 80 runs on the board inside seven overs with wickets in hand. Whatever the final total turns out to be, Sarfaraz Khan’s eight balls tonight had a lot to do with making it possible.
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- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
