Rohit and Suryakumar on song as MI hammer Chennai, Kohli guides RCB to win over Punjab

MUMBAI: India captains Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav struck unbeaten half-centuries topower Mumbai Indians to a nine-wicket thrashing of Chennai Super Kings in a battle of IPL heavy-weights on Sunday.

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India's Test and ODI skipper Rohit struck form in this edition of the T20 tournament with 76 and national T20 leader Suryakumar smashed 68 off 30 balls at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium.

The two put on 114 runs to steer the five-time champions to chase down 177 with 26 balls to spare in a dominant performance.

Rohit, 37, came in as impact substitute in the chase and put on 63 runs with Ryan Rickleton, who fell for 24 off Ravindra Jadeja, to lay the foundations of Mumbai's third straight win.

Five-time winners Chennai, led by M.S. Dhoni after regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad pulled out injured mid-season, crashed to their sixth defeat in eight matches to stay bottom of the IO-teamtable.

Rohit struggled for form until this knock with just 82 runs in his previous six innings but found his groove with trademark flicks and pulls.

He reached his fifty in 33 balls but Suryakumar was in a hurry and his knock included some audacious shots behind the wicket raised his half-ton in 26 deliveries.

Rohit and Suryakumar smashed II sixes between them.