FACE-SAVING WIN FOR DELHI DAREDEVILS
Delhi Daredevils denied Chennai Super Kings from topping the standings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) when the hosts won their clash by 34 runs at the Ferozshah Kotla on Friday.
Aiming to topple Sunrisers Hyderabad, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to field, but Delhi Daredevils rode on late order blitzkriegs from Vijay Shankar and Harshal Patel to post a healthy 162 for 5.
Already out of contention for the playoffs, Delhi made two changes by bringing back Glenn Maxwell and Avesh Khan in place of Jason Roy and Junior Dala. Chennai, on the other hand, made just one change by including pacer Lungi Ngidi in place of David Willey.
Delhi were off to a sluggish start before losing in-form opener Prithvi Shaw off a run-aball 17 in the fifth over with the scoreboard showing 24 runs.
Shaw, who received a reprieve a couple of balls earlier when Shardul Thakur dropped a simple catch off Ravindra Jadeja, failed to cash in on it and fell to Deepak Chahar with Thakur making no mistake this time around. Shaw’s dismissal brought together the in-form duo of skipper Shreyas Iyer (19 from 22; 3x4) and Rishabh Pant (38 from 26; 3x4, 2x6) and the right-left combo forged a 54-run second wicket stand to stabilise Delhi’s innings.
While Iyer played the more sedate innings, Pant looked at his aggressive best punishing veteran off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for two sixes and a four.
But as things started going smoothly Delhi’s way, South African Lungi Ngidi jolted the hosts by packing back both Iyer and Pant in a span of four deliveries.
Back into the attack for his second over, Ngidi cleaned up Iyer with a skiddy short of length delivery before enticing Pant with a short ball, which resulted in a top edge into the safe hands of Bravo at third man. Struggling at 81 for 3, Glenn Maxwell and Shankar were assigned to resurrect the innings but form continued to elude the Australian who found his leg stick walking with a straight delivery from left-arm spinner Jadeja.
With half the side back in the hut at 97, Patel joined Shankar to strike a few lusty blows to take the side past the 150-run mark. Shankar (36 not out from 28 balls; 2x4, 2x6) and Patel (36 not out from 16; 1x4, 4x6) milked 26 runs off the final over from Dwayne Bravo to forge a 65-run sixth wicket stand — the highest of Delhi’s innings — and rescue the hosts from a troubled start.
Chennai received a good start from Shane Watson (14) and Ambati Rayudu (50) but Suresh Raina, Dhoni, Sam Billings and Dwayne Bravo failed to make substantial contributions. Although Ravindra Jadeja hit an unbeaten 27, Chennai were well short of their ground. —