Today’s Fixture
Kings XI Punjab Vs Kolkata Knight Riders (Kolkata) 8 pm
New Delhi, Mar 2: Shane Watson and Suresh Raina made batting look easy on a lifeless track as Chennai Super Kings coasted to a six-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals in an Indian Premier League encounter here on Tuesday.
Shikhar Dhawan’s painstaking half-century was the only silver lining in Delhi Capitals’ sub-par total of 147 for six which the defending champions overtook with two balls to spare.
The scoreline might suggest that it was a close game but CSK were always in control of the chase despite a lot of balls being wasted by Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the back end of the innings.
When Delhi batted first, run-scoring looked an arduous job with a middle-order collapse dashing hopes of a big total.
When CSK started their chase, it was expected that the slowness will be a factor but it seemed Watson (44 off 26 balls) and Suresh Raina (30 off 16 balls) were batting on a different track. They showed positive intent which was singularly lacking in Dhawan and Co.
They hit eight fours and four sixes between them to add 52 runs in only four overs and there was no recovery from that onslaught.
Ishant Sharma (0/28 in 3 overs) bowled too many length balls which were driven with disdain and short ones were cut ferociously. Five boundaries off Ishant’s in three overs was just the start that CSK needed.
Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra got a couple of wickets but mostly bowled hittable length with three maximums coming in his spell, including the decisive six from Dhoni (32 no off 35 balls).
Kagiso Rabada, who was impressive in the first match, was erratic on the day and an altercation with Watson only disturbed his concentration.
By the time Watson was out, it was a formality for the CSK to record their second victory but Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav (27) made an easy chase look difficult.
Earlier, Dhawan played the role of sheet anchor in his 51 off 47 balls that had seven boundaries but unfortunately failed to accelerate during the final overs. This left the home team at least 30 runs short of a fighting score which proved to be decisive in the end.
From a comfortable 120 for 2 with the dangerous Rishabh Pant at the crease, CSK seized the momentum, effecting a middle-order collapse. Capitals lost four wickets for seven runs in just 1.5 overs. From 118 for 2 after 15 overs, the last five overs yielded only 29 runs.
With the ball stopping and coming, Capitals batsmen found Dwayne Bravo’s (3/33 in 4 overs) variations difficult to handle. Ravindra Jadeja (1/23 in 4 overs) also made life difficult in the middle overs and Harbhajan Singh (0/30 in 4 overs) also bowled as many as 10 dot balls. (PTI)
SCOREBOARD
Delhi Capitals Innings:
Prithvi Shaw c Watson b Chahar 24
Shikhar Dhawan c Thakur b Bravo 51
Shreyas Iyer lbw b Tahir 18
Rishabh Pant c Thakur b Bravo 25
Colin Ingram c Raina b Bravo 2
Keemo Paul b Jadeja 0
Axar Patel not out 9
Rahul Tewatia not out 11
Extras: (LB-2 W-5) 7
Total: (For 6 wkts in 20 overs) 147
Bowling: Deepak Chahar 4-0-20-1, Shardul Thakur 2-0-19-0, Harbhajan Singh 4-0-30-0, Ravindra Jadeja 4-0-23-1, Imran Tahir 2-0-20-1, Dwayne Bravo 4-0-33-3.
Chennai Super Kings Innings:
Shane Watson st Pant b Mishra 44
Ambati Rayudu c Iyer b Ishant 5
Suresh Raina c Pant b Mishra 30
Kedar Jadhav c Pant b Rabada 27
Mahendra Singh Dhoni not out 32
Dwayne Bravo not out 4
Extras: (LB-5 W-2 NB-1) 8
Total: (For 4 wkts in 19.4 overs) 150
Bowling: Ishant Sharma 3-0-28-1, Axar Patel 4-0-16-0, Kagiso Rabada 3.4-0-26-1, Amit Mishra 4-0-35-2, Rahul Tewatia 2-0-20-0, Keemo Paul 3-0-20-0.
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