A 138-run opening partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw set up an easy victory for Delhi Capitals (DC) as they mowed down a daunting target of 189 with eight balls to spare. For Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Suresh Raina scored a terrific half-century while Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu and Sam Curran chipped in with valuable contributions, but all that went in vain.
In what was a battle of two extremes, the youthful exuberance of Rishabh Pant and his young brigade was too hot to handle for the calm and stoicism of MS Dhoni’s men.
With Pant at the helm, experimentation was always around the corner. It came quite early in the contest. Neither Ishant Sharma nor Umesh Yadav was the part of playing XI. Instead, Delhi trusted Chris Woakes’ surgical precision and Avesh Khan’s extra pace. To accommodate Woakes, they did not even hesitate to leave out Steven Smith.
Both pacers justified the decision very early in the match. While Avesh pinned Faf du Plessis on the front pad in his first over, Woakes’ pitched-up delivery kissed the edge of Ruturaj Gaikwad’s bat and landed in the grasp of Shikhar Dhawan.
Moeen Ali (36 off 24 balls) and Suresh Raina (54 off 36) then not only steadied the CSK ship but also compensated for a sluggish start. Moeen played a cameo brimming with glorious shots. With everything going around him or his name, he seemed like a man least perturbed as boundaries came off his bat, often in pairs. Whenever he hit one, he went after the next, and he was successful on each occasion. However, his stay came to an abrupt end after failing to execute a reverse-hit off R Ashwin in the ninth over.
But Raina was still there, and he looked like a man keen on putting up a show after an unplanned sabbatical that lasted a bit longer than he would have liked. He continued to strike regularly, clobbering the Delhi bowlers, especially spinners, all around the park. There was no rustiness; nor did he lack rhythm as he completed his half-century in 32 balls with a mighty pull off Tom Curran in the 13th over.
There was a battle within a battle that Sam Curran aced with perfection, smashing two sixes and as many fours off his brother’s bowling. Sam Curran’s quickfire 34 propelled Chennai to 188/7.
Chasing 189, Shaw and Dhawan got DC to a perfect start. Shaw’s season of redemption continued even as the stage shifted from domestic to global, the season from spring to summer, and the format from One-Day to Twenty20. He smashed boundaries at will, pierced gaps for fun, and preyed over the Chennai bowlers with incredible ease.
Prithvi scored 72 off just 38 deliveries with the help of nine fours and three sixes, the most significant being a six off Jadeja in the ninth over that seemed to defy gravity for a moment. It sailed over long-on to land into – fittingly – the Sachin Tendulkar Stand. It came at the right moment, just when Moeen and Jadeja had bowled a couple of tight overs after the Powerplay.
Dhawan’s innings was not much different from Shaw’s in terms of the sheer destruction and misery it brought to the opposition. Not a single bowler was spared. The pair added 138 runs in just 13.3 overs before the latter was dismissed by Dwayne Bravo. Dhawan (85 off 54 balls) fell three overs later, but the damage had been done. At this point, Delhi needed just 22 runs in 21 balls.
DC skipper Pant hit a four in the 19th over to guide his team across the finishing line, with seven wickets in hand. Dhawan was adjudged as Player of the Match.
Brief Scores
Chennai Super Kings 188/7 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 54; C Woakes 2-18) lost to Delhi Capitals 190/3 in 18.4 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 85; Shardul Thakur 2-53) by 7 wickets with 8 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Shikhar Dhawan.