By Neil Manthorp.
Chennai Super Kings achieved the remarkable feat of posting a winning total of 167-8 without a single player reaching 30 after they chose to bat first in their IPL game against the Delhi Capitals at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday.
Capitals slumped to 140-8 in reply to lose by 27 runs and all but bow out of playoff contention barring some extraordinary mathematical unlikelihoods.
Chennai, on the other hand, are virtually assured of a top-four finish and will now have their sights set on finishing in the top-two being just one point behind log leaders and defending champions, Gujarat Titans.
Six CSK batsmen reached the 20s with Shivam Dube and captain MS Dhoni doing so in quick time, Dube’s 25 coming from just 12 balls with three sixes and Dhoni’s 20 from only nine balls with a four and two sixes.
Left-arm spinner Axar Patel (2-27) was tough to score against while offspinner Lalit Yadav, having conceded just 11 runs from his first two overs which included a stunning, one-handed return catch to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane (21), was belted for three sixes by Dube in his third over which cost 23 runs to give him figures of 3-0-34-1. It may have been the over which decided the match.
Delhi captain, David Warner (0), drove the second ball of the run-chase to cover and fellow Aussie Mitchell Marsh (5) was run out after in-form Philip Salt fell for 17 to leave the Capitals in early trouble at 25-3.
But Manish Pandey (27) and Rilee Rossouw (35 from 37 balls) briefly revived hopes with a stand of 59 before Sri Lankan round-arm slinger, Matheesha Pathirana, trapped Pandey lbw for 27 with a perfect, inswinging yorker.
When Rossouw miscued a slog-sweep to long on to depart for an uncharacteristically sluggish innings the Capitals were 89-5 with just 5.3 overs remaining and 88 runs required. The game was all but over. And soon it was.
Axar Patel blasted 21 from 12 balls but it was too little, too late, Pathirana finishing with 3-37 3 while English offspinner Moeen Ali bowled his four overs at a cost of just 16 runs.
On a slow pitch, which Dhoni said would become slower in the second innings offering increasing turn, the total was far more competitive than has been normal in the highest scoring IPL tournament in its 15-year history.
CSK’s total was their lowest in a completed innings in this year’s tournament but always looked likely to be a winning one.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (captain & wkt), Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana
DELHI CAPITALS: David Warner (captain), Philip Salt (wkt), Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma.