With an eight-wicket victory over a self-destructive Delhi Capitals in New Delhi on Tuesday, Chennai Super Kings maintained their relevance in the Indian Premier League as Sanju Samson paced his undefeated 87 off 52 balls wonderfully on a challenging pitch.
CSK won their fifth game of the season in 17.3 overs thanks to a 114-run uninterrupted partnership between Samson and Kartik Sharma (41 not out off 31 balls) off 66 balls for the third wicket. Following their sixth loss in ten games, DC’s path to the playoffs became much more difficult.
DC’s top spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, gave up 34 runs in his three overs while Akeal Hosein and Noor Ahmad of CSK performed admirably. By keeping the opposition to 44 for one during the powerplay, he was hit for four sixes in just eighteen balls, relieving all the pressure DC had placed on them. Axar Patel, the captain, did a good job of containing, but Kuldeep was unable to take a wicket in the middle overs to make it easier for CSK.
Lungi Ngidi dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad in his opening over, but Trump card Mitchell Starc was unable to get off to a quick start.
Samson seemed to have everything worked out in his mind. He targeted Kuldeep after the powerplay to help his team anchor the chase after struggling to 15 off his first 17 balls. He hit six sixes in his innings. In his first season with the team, the opener has also scored two hundreds.
Earlier, Delhi Capitals’ batting woes at home persisted as they struggled on a challenging pitch and finished at below par 155/7 against Chennai Super Kings. The home side batters did not put up their best effort on a pitch that helped the spinners with the odd ball holding up.
Opener Pathum Nissanka’s failure to clear the mid-on fielder off a slower ball from left-arm bowler Mukesh Choudhary marked the start of the free fall.
KL Rahul (12 off 13) and Nissanka (19 off 15) both started with clear boundaries but were short-lived. Rahul tried an inside-out hit off left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein after Nissanka, but he was unable to reach the ball’s pitch and was caught by opposing captain Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Hosein bowled half of the overs, including one from the other end that resulted in Rahul’s wicket, as DC struggled to 37/2 during the powerplay.
The fans, which was primarily in yellow and supported CSK and MS Dhoni, who didn’t even travel for the game, increased pressure on the “home team” as DC’s innings lost steam. Throughout the innings, there were frequent chants of CSK, CSK.
It appeared that DC had not conquered the mental demons of 75 all out in their previous game at the Kotla with a batting effort like that.
Noor Ahmad, another spinner, dominated the opposition after the powerplay, dismissing Karun Nair and Nitish Rana, both of whom were eliminated by a badly executed sweep shot.
Axar Patel, the captain of DC, had the perfect chance to make a mark with the bat but was softly dismissed after giving the cover fielder a sitter from a ball from Gurjapneet Singh that seemed to stop on him. At 69/5 in 11 overs, DC was in disarray.
