Plenty happened inside the first two hours of CSK vs MI's marquee IPL 2025 clash in Chennai on Sunday evening. The IPL’s El-Clasico got underway with Mumbai Indians veteran and former captain Rohit Sharma getting out on a four-ball duck to Khaleel Ahmed, registering an unwanted record. On the other hand, IPL giant and CSK great MS Dhoni, 43, rolled back years with a spicy stumping to dismiss SKY in the first innings.

Advertisment

Rohit’s unwanted record

Rohit has been searching for form lately. Although his ODI hundred against England during the February series and a match-winning 76 against New Zealand in the Champions Trophy final are two standout knocks, the ageing Indian captain hasn’t been in his element for a long time. 

Against CSK on Sunday, Rohit became the second-most capped player (258th appearance) in the competition history but concurrently registered an unwanted record besides his name. 

Advertisment

Also read | IPL 2025: Kishan enjoys ‘freedom at SRH’; credits Cummins and management for trusting him

Opening alongside MI’s latest debutant, Ryan Rickelton, Rohit faced the new ball, and before he could get into his groove, he hit one straight to mid-wicket. His four-ball zero meant he has gotten out on a duck in the IPL for the record 18th time – the joint-most alongside Glenn Maxwell and former keeper-batter Dinesh Karthik. Piyush Chawla is fourth on the list (16) and KKR’s Sunil Narine is fifth with the same number of ducks.

Watch -

Advertisment

Meanwhile, it was Rohit’s first T20 match since the T20 World Cup Final in Barbados last year. Since winning the second T20 WC in the Americas, Rohit was among the three Indian stars to announce their retirements from this format.

Dhoni rolls back years

IPL giant MS Dhoni was back playing competitive cricket for the first time since the last season, and even after getting a year older, he didn’t let his reflexes disappoint him.

Also read | CSK vs MI: 'Why should we even...,' MS Dhoni’s IPL retirement question irks Gavaskar

Keeping wickets as he always does, Dhoni produced magic to dismiss MI’s stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav. 

SKY misread Noor Ahmed’s wrong-un, only for Dhoni to collect the ball and dislaunch the bails quickly before SKY could return to the crease. Just after Dhoni affected a successful stumping, the crowd went crazy; Suryakumar walked back to the pavilion without waiting for the third umpire’s call. 

Watch -

Meanwhile, Mumbai scored 155 for nine in the first innings.