SPIRITED DEVILS
Raipur, May 12: Despite being out of contention for a play-off berth, Delhi Daredevils produced a spirited effort with both bat and ball to defeat table-toppers Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in their IPL-8 match here on Tuesday.
Chasing a modest 120, Shreyas Iyer scored a sparkling 70 not out to take Delhi over the line in a sedate manner in the 17th over.
Earlier, a disciplined Daredevils attack restricted the Super Kings — who elected to bat — to 119 for six.
Chennai found scoring difficult on a pitch which had patches of grass as they failed to build partnerships while losing wickets at regular intervals at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.
Chennai, one of the most consistent IPL sides, made a slow start and lost three wickets by the halfway mark before top-scorer Faf du Plessis (29 off 23 balls) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (27 off 24 balls) tried to repair the innings with a 36run stand for the fourth wicket but in vain.
For Delhi, veteran pacer Zaheer Khan (2/9) and Albie Morkel (2/21) were the top bowlers while Gurinder Sandhu and Jayant Yadav took a wicket apiece.
In-form opener Brendon McCullum struggled at the crease and was the first Chennai batsman to be dismissed in the sixth over bowled by Zaheer for just 11. The Kiwi drove into the hands of Delhi captain JeanPaul Duminy at mid-off off a fuller ball outside the offstump.
The other opener Dwayne Smith (18) and one-down Suresh Raina (11) followed McCullum to the dressing room in the ninth and 10th over respectively as Chennai suffered jolts in quick succession to be reduced to 46 for 3 at the halfway mark.
Smith fell to Morkel's first delivery of the match as he was rapped on the pads in front of middle and off stumps from a pitched-up delivery.
Next over, Raina was out off a soft dismissal as he came down the track only to chip the ball straight down the throat of Duminy again off the bowling of Jayant Yadav.
Du Plessis and Dhoni tried to stitch a partnership but they separated in the 16th over when the South African dragged a Morkel delivery onto his stumps. — PTI