(IPL) Wooden spoon holders Delhi Daredevils gave their fans reason to cheer after they defeated the Chennai Super Kings by 34 runs last evening.
After posting a competitive 162-5 batting first at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground in Delhi, the Daredevils spinners strangled the visitor’s batsmen with some tight wicket-to-wicket bowling and restricted CSK to 128-6.
In the evening, having been put in to bat, there was very little in terms of momentum in the Delhi Daredevils innings.
After Prithvi Shaw threw his wicket away with yet another early-inning extravagant shot, captain Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant resurrected the innings with a 54-run partnership.
Both batsmen were dismissed in the same over and there were two new men at the crease once again.
Glenn Maxwell then attempted a reverse sweep against Ravindra Jadeja only to have his stumps rearranged. DD were 94-4 after 13.5 overs at that stage.
Vijay Shankar and Harshal Patel then stitched an unbeaten 65-run partnership to take their team to a respectable total.
The pair took 26 runs off the final over bowled by Dwayne Bravo; Patel hit three sixes down the ground, while Shankar hit one into the stands at square-leg. The final over flourish meant DD got to 162-5; they had scored 60 runs in the last five overs.
Both batsmen were unbeaten on 36; Shankar struck two fours and two sixes in his 28-ball knock, while Harshal’s 18-ball vigil contained a boundary and four sixes.
For CSK, the pacers Deepak Chahar, Lungi Ngidi and Shardul Thakur shared four wickets among them while Jadeja returned figures of 1-19 from his four overs.
The opening pair of Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu added 46 runs to give CSK a solid foundation for their chase but once Rayudu was the second man out, the CSK innings lost momentum; the rest of the incoming batsmen struggled for timing on a pitch that had slowed down considerably.
From 70-2 when Rayudu was dismissed at the end of the 10th over, CSK could only add 58 runs in the back end, eventually finishing at 128-6. The CSK innings had only six fours (and seven sixes).
Trent Boult and Harshal Patel were impressive among the Daredevils quicks; the two pacers returned combined figures of 8-0-43-3, while Amit Mishra and Sandeep Lamicchane returned combined figures of 8-0-41-3.
Brief Scores:
Delhi Daredevils 162-5 (Rishabh Pant 38, Vijay Shankar 36*, Harshal Patel 36*, Lungi Ngidi 2-14) beat
Chennai Super Kings 128-6 (Ambati Rayudu 50, Ravindra Jadeja, Trent Boult 2-20, Amit Mishra 2-20) by 34 runs.
Man of the Match:
Harshal Patel, for his all-round performance (16-ball 36* and 1-23).
