Delhi Capitals registered the ninth win of the season as they beat MS Dhoni‘s Chennai Super Kings in a final-over thriller in Dubai. Chasing a par score of 137, Delhi found themselves in a tricky situation after losing their top five batters with just 99 runs on board at the end of the 15th. Shimron Hetmyer and Axar Patel were then the only two recognisable batting options left for Delhi, with them still needing 38 runs from the remaining 30 balls. When it looked like the duo would take Delhi home, Dwayne Bravo struck for Chennai as the match reached a tricky point. But DC batters stood firm and eventually got over the line, handing over a win to their skipper Rishabh Pant on his 24th birthday.
The Delhi Capitals skipper was, however, not satisfied with the way the match played out. “Not a bad birthday present, was a tough match, we made it tough for ourselves. In the end if we win everything is fine," Rishabh said after the match.
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Rishabh Pant was also critical of how Chennai Super Kings batters scored in the PowerPlay and their bowling efforts overall.
“In the powerplay, they came hard and got away. After that we bowled some good overs. In the end, they got away with some extra runs," the Delhi skipper added.
Like Chennai Super Kings, Delhi Capitals were also off to a good start with Prithvi Shaw taking the aggressors role while Shikhar Dhawan was playing the anchor. Delhi had scored 24 runs in the first 14 balls of their innings before Deepak Chahar removed Prithvi Shaw. Shreyas Iyer then joined Shikhar Dhawan in the middle, and the duo played some sensible cricket to score over 50 runs before Shreyas Iyer lost his wicket to Josh Hazlewood.
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“With the bat, Prithvi got us to a good start. Prithvi is going to play that well and Shikhar is going to help him playing that way, but started well. We got what we needed from him and in the Hetty (Hetmyer) finished it off for us," Pant said.
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