DHONI SPECIAL GOES IN VAIN
Pant, Khaleel and Mukesh seal Capitals’ first win
Visakhapatnam, India - At approximately 11 on Sunday night, Visakhapatnam came alive. ‘Hosts’ Delhi Capitals were on their way to their first win, but the result suddenly seemed irrelevant.
MS Dhoni strode to the middle to bat for the first time since last year’s final and immediately sent the decibel levels soaring, walloping his first ball for four behind square leg and bludgeoning his third through extra-cover.
Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant was fined INR 12 lakh (USD 14,000 approx.) after his team was found to be short of the minimum required over rate after taking time allowances into account. It was his first over-rate offence of IPL 2024.
When he hit Khaleel Ahmed for an inside-out six in the next over, the crowd threatened to blow the roof off. Chennai Super Kings still needed 46 off 12; one run more than a side had ever made off the last two overs to win in the IPL.
Mukesh Kumar was tasked with bowling a clutch over. His figures until then read 2-0-16-3. One more good over would close
the game out, more or less, and he delivered, bowling a series of wide yorkers that Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja couldn’t get underneath.
The over went for 5, and Super Kings needed 41 off six. Impossible if extras didn’t come into it.
That was no reason for the
crowd to stop. Dhoni was on strike. They wanted him to turn the clock back.
And he did, walloping Anrich Nortje for two fours and two sixes. Dhoni finished 37 not out off 16, Super Kings fell short by 20 runs, but you couldn’t quite say if the fans in yellow were disappointed at the result or ec
static at watching their hero do his thing.
After he scythed a full-toss for six to finish the game, the realisation dawned that the Capitals had picked up their first win of the season, a result set up by David Warner and Rishabh Pant with the bat, and finished off by Khaleel and Mukesh.
Prithvi Shaw made 106 runs in eight innings in IPL 2023, at an average of 13.25. When he didn’t begin the season, you wondered if the Delhi Capitals were looking beyond him already. Turns out they weren’t.
Coming in for local boy Ricky Bhui and slotting in at the top of the order, Shaw laid the foundation with a 93-run opening stand in 9.3 overs with David Warner.
All the trademark elements of a Shaw innings were on display: sumptuous driving, fierce cuts and delectable wristwork. Warner was more muscle, but he also had a tantalising effect with his leg-side strokeplay.
When he brought up his halfcentury off just 32 balls, Capitals were flying.
You didn’t know until last week if Matheesha Pathirana would feature in the tournament at all. But in taking a blinder at short third in the 10th over, leaping fullstretch and pulling off a onehanded stunner while airborne, he put to rest any concerns over his back. Warner saw his jaw-drop in disbelief at the athleticism, and had to drag himself off.