Chennai: With the help of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s aggressive batting and skillful captaincy, Chennai Super Kings defeated Delhi Capitals by 27 runs in the IPL match on Wednesday and took the next step towards the IPL playoffs. Batting first, Chennai scored 167 runs for eight wickets in which Dhoni contributed 20 runs in nine balls.
In response, the Delhi team could only manage 140 runs for eight wickets and did not even hit ten fours in its entire innings. His batsmen hit seven fours and four sixes. Delhi’s three main batsmen David Warner (0), Phil Salt (17), and Mitchell Marsh (five) were in the pavilion in the fourth over. With this win, Chennai has 15 points and by winning even one of the remaining two matches, it will reach the last four. At the same time, Delhi has only eight points in 11 matches and its playoff hopes are almost over.
For Chennai, Ravindra Jadeja took one wicket for just 19 runs in four overs while Moeen Ali gave only 16 runs in four overs. Matisha Pathirana took three wickets for 37 runs in four overs. Manish Pandey and Riley Rossouw added 59 runs for Delhi in the middle overs but also played 59 balls for that.
Earlier, Dhoni hit Khaleel Ahmed for two sixes in the 19th over to take Chennai to a respectable score. Earlier, the Delhi bowlers kept the Chennai batsmen under pressure. None of the batsmen could convert a good start into a big innings. Shivam Dubey scored a maximum of 25 runs.
Ruturaj Gaikwad contributed 24, Ambati Rayudu 23, and Ajinkya Rahane contributed 21 runs. Chennai captain Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat but this decision proved to be wrong in front of the disciplined performance of the Delhi bowlers. Left-arm spinner Akshar Patel denied Chennai off to a good start by dismissing both the opening batsmen. And Mitchell Marsh took three wickets for just 18 runs in three overs.
Kuldeep Yadav and Lalit Yadav also got one wicket each. Dubey hit Akshar for the first six of Chennai’s innings in the 11th over. After this, two more sixes were hit but Delhi captain David Warner was caught by Mitchell Marsh. He scored 25 runs in 12 balls. Ruturaj took 16 runs in the second over bowled by Ishant Sharma.
In the third over, Devon Conway got a life off Khaleel after the ball hit the bat but Delhi did not take a review after the on-field umpire ruled in favor of the batsman. Conway, however, could not take advantage of this and was the victim of Akshar after scoring ten runs. At the end of the powerplay, Chennai’s score was 49 for one wicket. Akshar took the second wicket in the form of Gaikwad. Ajinkya Rahane was returned by Lalit Yadav with a brilliant return catch.
