MARCH 26, 2019
Brief Scorecard: Chennai Super Kings 150 for 4 (Watson 44, Mishra 2-35) beat Delhi Capitals 147 for 6 (Dhawan 51, Bravo 3-33) by six wickets
NEW DELHI, INDIA – Chennai Super Kings stormed to their second successive win in the 2019 Indian Premier League when they crushed Delhi Capitals by 6 wickets at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Tuesday. Chasing 148, CSK reached home with just 2 balls to spare. On Saturday, CSK had won the opening game of the season against Royal Challengers Bangalore by 7 wickets.
Chennai Super Kings, the defending champions, are the oldest team in this IPL but their experience towers above the rest. On Tuesday, they withstood an assault from Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant. Both young men were dismissed in the 20s and Shikhar Dhawan’s 51 was too slow to make a real impact.
Three days ago, Chennai had chased down 71 but they took their time on a sluggish pitch. Tonight was different. They lost Ambati Rayudu early but Shane Watson (44) and Suresh Raina (30) laid the foundation for the chase with cameos. Both of them fell to Amit Mishra. But both Watson and Raina had done a commendable job – when Raina departed in the 11th over, CSK needed only 50 off 58 balls with 7 wickets in hand.
Earlier, Delhi Capitals won the toss, opted to bat and got off to a strong start courtesy of Prithvi Shaw.
Shardul Thakur and Imran Tahir have had better days on the field for CSK but Harbhajan Singh stepped up again as did Ravindra Jadeja – the two spinners helped Chennai apply the squeeze in the middle overs to keep Delhi under pressure.
The star turn came from Dwayne Bravo who picked 3 for 33 off his 4 overs. He dismissed the dangerous Rishabh Pant and Colin Ingram in the spcae of three balls before removing Shikhar Dhawan.
Axar Patel and Rahul Tewatia tried hard but they could not get Delhi past 150.
Against a strong batting line-up, Delhi Capitals needed an exceptional bowling performance. When Ishant Sharma removed Ambati Rayudu in the third over, the hosts would have hoped for a while. But Shane Watson and Suresh Raina added 52 for the second wicket off only 4 overs to put the game beyond Delhi’s reach.
Chennai Super Kings will now return home to host Rajasthan Royals on Sunday while Delhi Capitals will play Kolkata Knight Riders at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Saturday.
