NEW DELHI:
Chennai Super Kings beat Delhi Daredevils by 13 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Monday night to reclaim the top spot in the points tally in Pune. Chasing 212, DD's Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar struck quickfire half-centuries to give CSK a late scare but in the end, the visitors managed 198/5 in 20 overs, slumping to their sixth defeat of the ongoing season to continue to languish at the bottom of the points table.
Delhi needed a strong platform to build their chase on but were given two early blows by debutant medium-pacer KM Asif who got rid of both their openers Prithvi Shaw (9) and Colin Munro (26) in successive overs. Captain Shreyas Iyer (13), who played a match-winning knock in Delhi's previous match, was run out after a terrible mix-up with Pant.
With the dismissal of Glenn Maxwell (6), CSK were firmly in control of the proceedings before Pant (79) played a valiant knock that had seven fours and four sixes in it. His departure in the 18th over, all but sealed the fate of the contest before Shankar used the long handle to full effect punishing Dwayne Bravo with three sixes to bring down the equation to 28 off the final over. He did hit a six off the second delivery but in the end, the final total remained out of bounds for Delhi. Shankar remained unbeaten on 54 off 31 with a four and five sixes.
Earlier,
Shane Watson and M S Dhoni smashed brutal half-centuries to power CSK to a formidable 211/4. Watson (78 off 40) was back to his brutal best after three low scores and shared a 102-run opening stand with Faf du Plessis (33) after surviving a close lbw call on the first ball of the match.
Dhoni (51* off 22) showed his devastating touch in the last five overs which produced 74 runs. It was also Dhoni's second fastest fifty in the IPL.
Delhi opted to field on a good batting wicket and Super Kings pounced on the opportunity. Watson was unstoppable after Boult almost had him trapped in front of the stumps with a pacy inswinger at the start of the match. The visiting team took the DRS but the third umpire did not have conclusive evidence to overrule the not out call of the on-field umpire.
It was also a bit surprising that the tournament's leading run scorer
Ambati Rayudu (41 off 24) did not open the innings with Watson.
However, the Watson-Du Plessis duo produced the desired result for CSK who raced to 100 in just 10.2 overs.
Watson, who hit a hundred earlier in the tournament, got going by depositing Liam Plunkett for two sixes in the fifth over that eventually resulted in 20 runs.
Watson hammered as many as seven sixes with most of them coming straight down the ground or over square leg.
When the former Australian allrounder departed, the dangerous combination of Rayudu and Dhoni got together in the 14th over.
The captain got into the act with successive sixes off Boult, one over midwicket and the other one from a bottom-handed jab over long-on. The third one was a whip off Avesh Khan over square, almost going out of the ground. He ended up with five sixes and two fours.
Rayudu too made sure the big hits kept coming as he hit five fours and a six in his cameo. His fourth wicket stand of 79 with Dhoni came off just 36 balls.
CSK were able to complete a third half-century of the season with a double off the final ball of the innings. The Delhi bowlers were all over the place especially the experienced Boult and Plunkett who leaked 100 runs in seven overs between them.
Dhoni made four changes in his playing eleven, bringing in du Plessis, Karn Sharma and giving Kerala pacer KM Asif and South African Ngidi debut. Daredevils on the other hand did not make any changes after a much-needed win against KKR at home in their last match.
