Delhi halt Chennai’s march to the top
Harshal’s allround show and tight bowling by spinners Mishra, Lamichhane upset CSK plans
A magnificent spell of bowling from Delhi Daredevils’ leg-spinning duo of Amit Mishra (2/20) and Sandeep Lamichhane (1/21), combined with a 65-run stand off 32 balls by Harshal Patel and Vijay Shankar helped Delhi Daredevils earn a hard-fought 34-run win over Chennai Super Kings at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Friday.
The win frustrated Chennai Super Kings’ push to finish in the top-two of the standings.
Chasing 163, CSK started off slowly but Ambati Rayudu opened up in the sixth over by blasting Avesh Khan for three sixes and a four. Amit Mishra struck the first blow by removing Shane Watson (14) but Rayudu continued to grow in confidence by punching Mishra for a four to deep extra cover and a six straight down the ground. After surviving a run-out chance on 43, the right-hander notched up his third fifty in IPL 2018 but he failed to carry on as he miscued a whip off Harshal Patel to be caught at deep mid wicket by Glenn Maxwell.
Following Rayudu’s wicket, Lamichhane and Mishra stifled CSK in the middle overs. The Nepal spinner accounted for Raina (15) while Mishra ended Sam Billings’ (1) struggle. Their combined figures of 8-0-41-3 mounted the pressure on CSK but their hopes still rested on MS Dhoni.
However, some magnificent death bowling from Trent Boult and Patel meant that Dhoni could not repeat his magic of finishing the match and with his dismissal for 17 off Boult resulted in Delhi Daredevils defending a total of 162/6, a score which was made possible due to a blitz in the late overs by Patel and Vijay Shankar.
Earlier, Delhi Daredevils’ total of 162/6 owed to a pair of unbeaten 36s from Vijay Shankar and Harshal Patel and their partnership of 65 off 32 balls in the end helped them team recover from a collapse in the middle overs .
After inserting DD in, CSK struck with the wicket of Prithvi Shaw (18) but skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant steadied DD with a solid partnership. Pant, in particular, looked in great form hammering two fours and a six off Harbhajan.
The 11th over of Delhi Daredevils’ innings, bowled by Ngidi swung the momentum towards CSK. The South Africa pacer uprooted Iyer’s (19) off stump and a couple of balls later got the big wicket of Pant (38) as the young left-hander miscued a pull shot to mid wicket. DD lost four wickets for 25 runs from overs 10 to 15.
However, Shankar and Patel revived the innings. The 20th over bowled by Dwayne Bravo yielded 26 runs, with Harshal Patel slamming three sixes as CSK leaked 60 runs in the last five overs. The death overs onslaught proved to be the difference for DD.