The DC opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw stole the show as they pummelled the CSK bowlers all around the Wankhede Stadium. CSK’s middle-order resurrected their innings and helped them post 188, but the Dhawan-Shaw duo made light work of it as the two batsmen made 85 and 72 to help DC earn a comfortable win.
If the first game of this season went right down to the wire, this second game was as good as around the second innings’ halfway mark. Such was the dominance of the Delhi Capitals openers as they helped the team cruise to their target of 189 and open their 2021 campaign with a commanding win.
It was Rishabh Pant’s debut game as the Delhi Capitals captain. He won the toss and had absolutely no hesitation in bowling first.
The pitch seemed to be a belter, but Chennai Super Kings (CSK) didn’t have the best of starts. Despite missing their first-choice overseas fast bowlers, the Delhi new-ball bowlers Avesh Khan and Chris Woakes dismissed the CSK openers (Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad) in the space of three balls to leave the three-time champions reeling at 7/2.
Moeen Ali, who had walked in at No. 3, was joined by Suresh Raina, who returned to the CSK side after missing the 2020 edition. The left-handed duo weathered the early storm to take CSK to 33/2 at the end of the six overs, but once the powerplay ended, both Ali and Raina opened up. The England all-rounder took a special liking towards Ravichandran Ashwin, belting him for two fours in the 7th over before launching a couple of sixes in the 9th over against the Tamil Nadu off-spinner. However,
Ashwin had the last laugh as Ali top-edged a reverse-sweep, and Dhawan took a tricky catch.
Raina, who had made a run-a-ball 16 till Ali’s wicket, moved up a couple of gears as he went out on the attack. Ambati Rayudu came in and started playing his shots and found the boundary regularly as well. The Raina-Rayudu duo shared a 63-run stand in just 5.2 overs before the latter was foxed by a slower one from Tom Curran. Raina had already notched up his 39th half-century by then, but he was run out in a horrible mix-up with Ravindra Jadeja a couple of overs later. MS Dhoni was knocked over for a duck two balls later to leave CSK 137/6 in the 16th over.
But Jadeja joined hands with Sam Curran to help CSK finish with a flourish. The all-round duo added 51 runs in the 27 deliveries, and it was Curran who was the aggressor, making 34 off just 15 balls, while Jadeja remained unbeaten on 26 off 17 balls. CSK finished with 188, which seemed just about par on that Wankhede track.
In reply, it was the Shaw and Dhawan show. They gave Delhi an absolute flier as the duo added 65 runs in the first six overs. Every over in that powerplay had a boundary that was hit. Deepak Chahar was belted around, Sam Curran and Shardul Thakur were taken to the cleaners as Shaw and Dhawan matched each other shot for shot.
The introduction of spin did slow things down for a couple of overs. In fact, Shaw was dropped at long-off by substitute fielder Mitchell Santner, put off by Dwayne Bravo running in from covers. Ali was the unlucky bowler, and it was in the 8th over with Shaw batting on 38. The Mumbai-born batsman was dropped again (on 47) off Ali a couple of overs later, and it was Gaikwad who couldn’t pouch it diving forward at deep mid-wicket.
The opening pair just kept going as they registered their half-centuries and brought up the 100-run stand in just 61 balls. Shaw continued on his merry way, toying around with the bowlers while Dhawan was timing them beautifully, finding the fence with ease as well.
Bravo broke the opening stand as he had Shaw hole out at deep cover for 72. The score at that stage read 138/1 in the 14th over, and Delhi were cruising. Dhawan continued the onslaught before he fell 15 short of his third IPL ton. Marcus Stoinis came out swinging while Rishabh Pant remained unbeaten on 15 to take Delhi home with eight balls to spare.
Brief Scores
Chennai Super Kings 188/7 (Raina 54, Moeen 36, Curran 34, Woakes 2/18, Avesh 2/23) lost to Delhi Capitals 190/3 (Dhawan 85, Shaw 72, Pant 15*, Thakur 2/53, Bravo 1/28) by seven wickets
