21 May,2023 08:43 AM IST | Delhi | Santosh Suri
Chennai Super Kings’s Devon Conway (left) celebrates his half-century with teammate Ruturaj Gaikwad during the match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Saturday. Pic/PTI
It was a super performance by Chennai Super Kings at Delhi Capitals's home ground, the Kotla, where a majority of spectators were wearing CSK's yellow jersey in honour of MS Dhoni. They all got their money's worth as the visitors notched up a huge total of 223, which proved to be beyond the reach of a struggling Delhi team. David Warner was the lone warrior for the home side as he played a fine hand of 86, but did not get much help from other batters and they fell 77 runs short of the target.
The big win has boosted CSK's Net Run Rate (NRR) and Dhoni & Co are almost assured of travelling back to Chennai to take on table toppers Gujarat Titans in the first Qualifier on May 23.
The confirmation of whether CSK will indeed take second place will come only after Saturday's game between Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders.
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It was a top-class performance by CSK and they will now go into the Playoffs full of confidence. Probably, the only thing that the CSK supporters missed out on was a couple of sixes by Dhoni at the fag end of the innings.
He faced just four deliveries but could not put any of those beyond the boundary despite the crowd shouting their lungs out, urging the former India captain to oblige to them. But there were other CSK batters who provided the entertainment.
The openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway batted superbly and provided a solid foundation with a partnership of 141. The way the duo dominated the Delhi bowling, it seemed both would attain three-figure marks. But it was not to be as first, Gaikwad after making 79 from just 50 balls, of which three were sent to the ropes and seven over, fell to Chetan Sakariya.
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Conway departed for 87 from 52 balls with 11 fours and three sixes. There were cameos of 22 by Shivam Dube and an unbeaten 20 by Ravindra Jadeja, which boosted the total.
The Delhi bowling was just not able to contain the rampaging CSK batters. The spin trio of Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav and Lalit Yadav went for 98 runs in just eight overs and that tells the story of the day.
Delhi captain David Warner put faith on the spinners to keep the batters in check on a sluggish pitch, but CSK batters went hammer and tongs. Of the six bowlers on view, only Sakariya went under 10 per over.
On the other hand, the CSK bowling was spot on as barring Warner, they did not allow the batters to dominate them. Be it pacers Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande or Matheesha Pathirana, or spinners Maheesh Theekshana or Jadeja they were on the ball as Delhi batters wilted under the pressure of the big total.
Before the match, both the form book and stats favoured CSK. At the Kotla, Delhi had just two wins in six this season and coach Shane Watson had admitted the squad had not been suitable for the home conditions. Head-to-head, CSK had won 18 of 28 matches against Delhi.
When shifting focus just to Delhi between these two, Chennai had won five of seven played. So, based on these facts, it was advantage Chennai even before the match and so it proved in the end.
