A slow start, while chasing 175, hurt the Chennai Super Kings dearly as they failed to get over the line and lost the match by 44 runs. At the end of the 9th over, the required run-rate had crossed 12, as compared to the 8.8 at the start of CSK’s innings.
At the end, CSK could only manage 131 for the loss of 7 wickets.
The CSK openers, Murli Vijay (10 of 15) and Shane Watson (14 of 16), both scored at strike rates of below 100. Faf du Plessis (43 of 35) was the only one to make a notable contribution with the bat. CSK never looked like they were in the chase.
Kangiso Rabada (3 for 26) and Anrich Nortje (2 for 21) bowled brilliantly at both ends of the innings. Axar Patel (1 for 18) also chipped in with the bowl, being the most economical bowler.
Dhoni, although batting at number 6, came out to bat when CSK needed 78 off 26 deliveries. Was the game too far gone when CSK’s best finisher came out to bat, we will never know. Dhoni only managed to score 15 of 12 deliveries.
Put in to bat after losing the toss, Delhi Capitals managed to score 175-3 on the back of Shikhar Dhawan (35 of 27) and Prithvi Shaw (64 of 43). The duo gave them a solid start, stitching together a partnership of 94 runs in 64 deliveries, before the former was dismissed trying a reverse sweep off Piyush Chawla. Just in his next over, Chawla also got the better of Shaw as he got him stumped. Chawla ended with 2 wickets of his 4, conceding 33 runs.
Delhi however, could not manage to build on the wonderful start as Rishabh Pant (37 of 25), Shreyas Iyer (26 of 22) and Marcus Stoinis (5 of 3) could not shift gears towards the end of the innings. Delhi only managed 87 runs in the last 10 overs, inspite of scoring 88 in the first 10 without losing any wickets. A score of 190 looked very gettable, but the CSK bowlers pulled things back nicely towards the end.
Sam Curran (1 for 27) and Josh Hazlewood (none for 28) were the pick of the bowlers for CSK while Ravindra Jadeja (none for 44) was taken to the cleaners.
Dhoni, in the post-match presentation, agreed that the batting department lacked a little ‘steam’. He also expressed the bowling department lacked consistency, a problem they aim to address in the one-week break they have.
