The Delhi Daredevils landed a blow on Tuesday when they beat table-topper Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in Raipur, in the process of ending their run of seven straight defeats against the opponent. After restricting the visitors to a mere 119, the hosts pursued careers in comfort, piloted by half a century of opener Shreyas Iyer and his 69-run partnership with Yuvraj Singh.
Need to get a run-a-ball, the hosts strolled to victory despite losing opener Quinton de Kock and JP Duminy pattern in the first five overs. The 20-year-old Shreyas becomes the pace of the ball to the limits in most cases, and especially through the game of cricket suitable strokes. He cut, drove and lit, used his feet well, and rarely uses unconventional put the ball on its way to the border lines. The opener brought up his half-century in the thirteenth most, needing 36 balls to reach the milestone.
Shreyas was involved in a partnership of 69 runs with Yuvraj Singh, who made 32 from 28 balls. DD were running away with the match for third window pair before slog-sweep Yuvraj Singh Pawan Negi was landed in the hands of Mohit Sharma at midwicket. In the seventeenth over when Shreyas hit a delivery from Ravindra Jadeja long at work she was already done; the first game was undefeated in 70 years, he hits 49 balls and struck out ten o’clock boundaries and a six. Ishwar Pandey (2-27) and Pawan Negi (2-28) were the wicket takers CSK.
In the early afternoon, after winning the toss and opting to bat, CSK struggled to reach an agreement with a slow surface in Raipur and could post a mere 119 runs on the scoreboard. Career decision was certainly difficult and races were at a premium; deliveries stumps were hard to get away and even the efforts of the hitters to generate their own pace not reap too many rewards.
The first over was a maiden entries, only one run was scored in the second, and at the end of the sixth – that was a maiden wicket – CSK had dragged 16 to 1 – the lowest score at the end of Powerplay this season. Zaheer Khan was fabulous with the new ball, bowling three of the first six credits, while conceding just six runs and collecting the large window Brendon McCullum (11 from 21 balls).
Dwayne Smith, after scoring 18 from 24 balls, was dismissed in the ninth over when he was hit by a shot is hit on the pads in front of the stumps. Suresh Raina perished in the next over when he tried to force the pace against Jayant Yadav, but chipped it past the fielder at short cover. CSK had crawled to 46 for 3 at the halfway point.
Faf du Plessis, who will eventually become the highest scoring innings, and MS Dhoni worked well between the wickets, and added 37 runs in what would be the largest association of entries. The first was dismissed in the sixteenth over when he tried to run a Albie Morkel delivery to thirdman but dragged the ball back onto his stumps. du Plessis made 29 of 23 balls and hit three boundaries.
Dhoni chose the 17th of rolled Yuvraj Singh as an opportunity to take some risks, and was successful in beating six-four. But in the next over, which fell victim to a well-disguised slower delivery from Zaheer Khan, crossing the ball to mid off Shahbaz Nadeem; He made 27 of 24 balls and hit three fours and a six.
The CSK tickets, which ended with the score reading 119 for 6 balls were 60 points, 10 fours and three sixes.
The Delhi Daredevils bowlers were fantastic in the day. Zaheer Khan was the most impressive of the lot; the quick left arm back with staggering numbers of 4-1-9-2 in a spell that had balls of 19 points – the most filmed by a bowler in IPL match. The left arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem opened the bowling and made four overs on the trot, returning with figures of 4-1-18-0. The off-spinner Jayant Yadav returned figures of 2-0-8-1. Albie Morkel was the other bowler DD to get one of the sites; Dwayne Smith fired and du Plessis, while conceding 21 runs in his three overs.
Brief Scores
Chennai Super Kings 119-6 in 20.0 overs (FAF du Plessis 29, Zaheer Khan 2-9) lost to Delhi Daredevils 120-4 in 16.4 overs (Shreyas Iyer 70 *, Ishwar Pandey 2-27)
Man of the Match: Zaheer Khan, for their figures of 4-1-9-2
