Mumbai Indian 115-2 (Richard Levi 50, Dwayne Bravo 1-14) beat Chennai Super Kings 112 (Suresh Raina 36, Dwayne Bravo 19, Kieron Pollard 2-15, Lasith Malinga 2-16) by 8 wickets.

Mumbai Indians crushed the previous consecutive champion Chennai Super Kings, by 8 wickets in the Indian Premier League 2012 opener.

Chennai Super Kings scored 112 runs before they were bowled out in 19.5 overs and the Mumbai Indians achieved the target by smashing 115 runs for the loss of just two wickets in 16.5 overs.

Richard Levi was declared ‘Player of the match for his excellent fifty while opening the innings.

The match was played at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai on April 4, 2012 and a capacity crowd witnessed the inaugural match in the stadium.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians Captain Harbhajan Singh won the toss and offered the batting to the rival team while preferring to chase. The decision paid off as the first wicket of Chennai Super Kings was lost at just four runs on board. Suresh Raina joined in with Murali Vijay and they picked up the run rate by scoring 13 runs in the fourth over followed by six in the next. They took the score to 38 when Vijay was caught by Harbhajan at mid on for 10 runs.

Dwayne Bravo came in next and they geared up in the eighth over by clinching 14 runs which included three fours as well. The tempo was carried on by them until the score reached at 75 as Raina was caught by Lasith Malinga off Pragyan Ojha for 36 off 26 balls with one six and two fours.That was the start of disaster for the Chennai Super Kings as the Mumbai Indian bowlers ripped through their batting. Six of their batsmen were unable to enter the double figures and the whole team was sent back to the pavilion for 112 runs with one ball to spare.

Lasith Malinga, Pragyan Ojha and Kieron Pollard were the main strikers with the ball while grasping two wickets each as James Franklin held one.

The Mumbai Indians initiated the innings with Richard Levi and the Little Master Sachin Tendulkar as the first dispatched a couple of fours in the second over. Tendulkar joined him in the third over by collecting 10 runs with one six and a four.The runs were flowing freely from the willow of Richard Levi who punished Doug Bollinger for two fours in the fourth over and butchered Ravindra Jadeja for 16 in the sixth over with one six and two fours.

Levi hammered his fifty in style by hitting a six to Dwayne Bravo on the second ball of the eighth over but lost his wicket on the very next ball for 50 off just 35 balls with 3 huge sixes and 6 fours.The first wicket fell at 69 in 7.5 overs and one run later Rohit Sharma was caught behind by MS Dhoni off Bollinger for a duck.

Bollinger struck the last ball of the ninth over on the finger of Sachin Tendulkar and the little master had to be retired hurt for 16.

Ambati Rayudu and James Franklin steadied the innings for the Mumbai Indians and cruised towards the target easily as the first dispatched the winning six on the fifth ball of the 17^th over to Bollinger. The target was achieved by thrashing 115 runs with 19 balls to spare.

Mumbai Indians made a positive start in the IPL 2012 by winning the match against the giants Chennai Super Kings by a huge margin of 8 wickets and earned 2 valuable points.