Dhawan’s ton, Axar’s cameo in Delhi win
Sharjah, UAE - Opener Shikhar Dhawan (101 not out) slammed his maiden IPL hundred as Delhi Capitals moved to the top of the table with a tense five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings on Saturday.
Dropped on 25 and 79, surviving a half chance, a run-out opportunity and getting a caught-behind decision reversed on 99, Dhawan made full use of the lives given to him to raise his best IPL knock as the Capitals overhauled a stiff 180-run target with one ball to spare.
Despite a well-set Dhawan at the crease, Sam Curran bowled an exceptional 19th over, giving away just four runs to keep Chennai in hunt.
Capitals needed 17 runs off the final over and it looked Dhawan’s effort could go in vain but Axar Patel played a blinder of a knock, hitting three sixes off Ravindra Jadeja to finish off the game in style.
After Chennai pacer Deepak Chahar sent back Prithvi Shaw (0) Ajinkya Rahane (8) early,
Dhawan kept one end safe. He took 58 balls for his unbeaten knock that was studded with 14 shots to the fence and one over the ropes.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer (23), shared a 68-run stand with
Dhawan but was out when he holed one out to Faf du Plessis off Bravo. Marcus Stoinis added 24 quick runs before being dismissed.
Earlier, du Plessis hit his fourth half-century of the season before Ambati Rayudu produced another useful cameo as a collective batting effort propelled Chennai Super Kings to 179 for four
Du Plessis (58) added 87 runs with Shane Watson (36) after early fall of Sam Curran, setting it up nicely for Chennai.
Rayudu hit 45 off 25 balls while Jadeja hit four sixes in his fiery 33-run knock. They added 50 runs in just 3.3 overs during their unbeaten fifth-wicket partnership.
Young Delhi pacer Tushar Deshpande bowled a tight line with decent speed and was rewarded when Curran swung his arms but just managed a top-edge that was taken by Anrich Nortje.
But after four quiet overs, du Plessis hit 14 runs from Nortje’s first over, hitting his compatriot for a six and two fours. Watson got some quick runs by placing the ball instead of going after the bowlers.
Du Plessis completed his 50 with a single of Nortje but Watson was castled by the
South African pacer off the next ball. Kagiso Rabada then sent back Du Plessis while Nortje got rid of rival skipper MS Dhoni (3) but Rayudu and Jadeja helped the side reach a competitive total.