Delhi Daredevils had to lift their game by several notches in order to compete against the rampaging Chennai Super Kings. Despite sparks of a revival courtesy a brief flourish by Murali Vijay and an enterprising knock by Dinesh Karthik, a poor bowling effort proved to be their undoing as Chennai blazed to an eight-wicket win at the Feroz Shah Kotla on Monday.
Vijay and Karthik set the foundation, but it was JP Duminy and Kedar Jadhav’s final flourish that helped Delhi sign off with 178 for five after being asked to bat. Duminy and Jadhav put on an unbeaten 58 off just 34 balls as Delhi smashed 56 off the last five overs to head into the break with the upper hand.
But their convincing batting performance was eclipsed by the brilliance of Dwayne Smith and Suresh Raina, as Chennai got to 181 for two with two balls to spare. This was Chennai’s sixth win in a row, having lost only their opening Pepsi IPL 2014 match, and that meant they remained at pole position halfway into their campaign.
Chennai’s batting was a well-orchestrated attack. Brendon McCullum, riding on a wave of confidence, first took control by unsettling Mohammed Shami in his first spell, playing two fierce pulls to get the innings off to a blazing start, and Smith followed suit.
Stephen Fleming, the Chennai coach, had admitted to being pleasantly surprised by Smith’s ability to adapt to different situations and the broad-shouldered West Indies allrounder proved his worth. He smashed Jaydev Unadkat for three sixes in his opening over - two fierce pulls that soared over deep backward square and a towering hit down the ground - to inject more adrenaline as Chennai raced away to 41 for no loss off four overs.
Kevin Pietersen turned to Shahbaz Nadeem, the left-arm spinner, and Wayne Parnell. Three quiet overs yielded just 11 runs, and the pressure was back on Chennai. The escalating asking rate suddenly created a hint of panic and even forced the otherwise unflappable McCullum into playing a few ugly hoicks and unsuccessful paddles.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla made things tougher with two right overs. His mix of slow variations and full and straight bowling allowed the batsmen little leeway, and when McCullum’s tired slog found Vijay at long-on in the 12th over to break an 82-run opening stand, Delhi were back in the game.
At one stage, at the end of the 13th over when a persistent drizzle came down, Chennai were six short of the Duckworth-Lewis target. But every time Delhi looked like choking the batsmen, Smith produced a release shot to break the shackles.
The momentum merely allowed Raina to play himself in and watch the ball fly. When presented the opportunity, he unfurled a few lovely drives and the pickup shot that he flicks over the ropes without any fuss. With 38 needed off 24 balls, a worried Pietersen had his hands on his head. The 86-run stand between Raina and Smith had almost sealed the game, but there was a brief flutter when Smith holed out to long-off in the penultimate over.
MS Dhoni then walked out and did what he does best – finish the game, and in some style. With nine needed off five and a nervy Unadkat running in, Dhoni launched the ball effortlessly into orbit and then brought up the winning runs with a boundary over cover. Raina finished with a sparkling unbeaten 47 studded with six fours and a six as a dejected Pietersen led his troops off.
But Delhi would not have had too much to worry about when Quinton de Kock injected early momentum by taking apart Ben Hilfenhaus and Ishwar Pandey, who was flicked disdainfully for two sixes during the Power Play overs. All along, Vijay quietly rotated strike and it looked like Delhi had a measure of the bowlers before a terrible mix-up ended de Kock’s brief stint for 24 in the fifth over.
Off the next ball, Mohit Sharma struck gold as Pietersen played inside the line of a length ball that moved away a wee bit to hit off stump. At 36 for two, a familiar story looked set to unfold. But Vijay and Karthik had other ideas.
While Vijay was the dormant partner, Karthik, who was given a lifeline on 11 when Hilfenhaus dropped him at deep midwicket off Ravindra Jadeja, made Chennai pay as he brought out his full range of strokes. The 50-run stand was brought up when Karthik deposited a Mohit full toss for six over cow corner for six, and then scooped Hilfenhaus over the ropes at fine leg to raise his half-century off just 35 balls.
Five balls later, Chennai had a lucky break when a thick inside edge off Karthik’s blade found Mohit at square leg. As he walked off, all eyes were on Duminy, but Delhi promoted Shukla instead, and two balls is all it took for R Ashwin to outfox him as a top-edge landed in Pandey’s hands at long-off.
Vijay, who then had the responsibility of batting through, gave the crowd their ‘wow moment’ when he switch-hit Ashwin for six. The shot even invited a nod of appreciation from Pietersen in the dugout, but the excitement didn’t last long as Vijay’s attempted slog across the line off Jadeja landed in Faf du Plessis’s hands at long-off. Delhi had lost three wickets in eight balls, and were set back again.
But Duminy, not one to go out without a fight, didn’t take long to announce himself as he smashed four fours off the 18th over, bowled by Mohit.
A scoop over short fine-leg, an edge over third man, a powerful wristy flick that bisected deep midwicket and long-on, and a sweetly timed extra cover drive over the infield to round it off. Taking forward his confidence from the previous game where he had smashed an unbeaten 28 off 14 balls against Rajasthan Royals, Jadhav finished the innings in style, smashing two sixes and boundary.
The last over went for 18 and both batsmen walked off with big smiles on their faces. But another disappointing bowling performance meant that smile faded away at the end as a majority of the 30,000 fans went home dejected yet again.
Shashank Kishore is a sub editor for Wisden India. Visit www.wisdenindia.com or follow them on Twitter @WisdenIndia.
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