TheSportsCampus

A shoddy performance from the defending champions Chennai Super Kings that saw them implode to 110/8 in their 20 overs, largely due to 4 inexplicable run outs, which enabled the hosts Delhi Daredevils to ease their way to a massive 8 wicket win on Tuesday night. No batsman from Chennai crossed 22, and there were no partnerships of note either as wickets just kept tumbling at regular intervals. The Delhi batsmen cruised to the finish line with more that 6 overs to spare on the back of a solid 33 from Virender Sehwag, and an entertaining 41 from the in-form Kevin Pietersen 41.

Match 11 of the Indian Premier League between hosts Delhi Daredevils and defending champions Chennai Super Kings got underway half an hour late due to thunderstorms in Delhi on Tuesday evening, and the home team captain Virender Sehwag decided to chase on the damp ground after winning the toss.

Delhi welcomed their rather esteemed and very much in-form foreign duo of Kevin Pietersen and Mahela Jayawardene straight into the starting eleven in place of Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell. Keeping in view the slow and low nature of the pitch Roelof van der Merwe too got a game ahead of the Kiwi all-rounder Doug Bracewell. Chennai in contrast were very happy with the balance of their side and chose to play the same team that completely routed the Deccan Chargers.

Chennai, after being put into bat, got off to a horror start once again in this tournament. Out of form opener Murali Vijay fell prey to a huge mix up on the first ball of the match and was run out for naught. Suresh Raina and Faf du Plessis got the scoreboard moving instantly by getting the 14 runs of the 3rd over of the innings from Irfan Pathan and just as they were running away with it, Delhi's ace bowler Morne Morkel struck for the hosts, getting Du Plessis (15) caught at extra cover. After 6 overs Chennai were 41/2 with Raina looking dangerous having smacked 2 sixes already.

Chennai were dealt a body blow soon after the powerplay as their ace batsman Suresh Raina(17) fell victim to another senseless piece of running, run out attempting a non existent single. Ravindra Jadeja, coming in at No.5 then added 21 runs with Subramaniam Badrinath before pandemonium struck again. Badrinath departed via another run attempt to steal a single to short fine-leg, for 15. The innings never got going as Jadeja was the next to go for 13 nicking one off Pathan to Naman Ojha, who took a blinder diving to his left.

At 66/5, skipper MS Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo, added just 15 runs off the next 5 overs at a very slow pace and in the process falling behind the eight-ball. The wicket was a bit two paced but 80/5 after 15 overs was woefully below par and Chennai needed to get quite a few boundaries quickly to give themselves.

That wasn't to be as Chennai's biggest hope, MS Dhoni departed for 11 holing out in the deep in the 18th over with the score on just 89. Even the in form Dwayne Bravo (22) and the big hitting Albie Morkel (2*) couldn't retrieve the situation much as CSK imploded to 110/8 in their 20 overs, which even on this two paced wicket seemed well below par.

Consequently, after self destructing with 4 inexplicable run outs Chennai found themselves with an uphill battle ahead to pull this one off against an improved Delhi outfit.

In pursuit of a lowly 111 for victory, Delhi were off to a rollicking start. Local boy Virender Sehwag and his opening partner for this game, Naman Ojha took the attack to Chennai straight away carting their new ball bowlers Doug Bollinger and Albie Morkel all around the park. The pair raced to 31/0 in 3 overs before Ojha departed through the most common mode of dismissal for the day, a run out. Sehwag continued his carnage at the other end though and took his team to 50 within the first 6 overs before being beaten in the flight by Ashwin on the last ball of the powerplay and holing out to deep mid wicket.

After the fall of Sehwag, the experienced overseas duo of Mahela Jayawardene and Kevin Pietersen saw the Daredevils home without any further hassles. It was another Pietersen show in Delhi as the intimidating Englishman launched himself on the CSK spinners while Mahela stood and supported him at the other end for the bulk of the partnership. Pietersen made short work of the remaining runs as he clobbered sixes at will off Jakati and Jadeja (both left-armers!) in particular and saw the team home with plenty to spare. Thanks to an unbeaten 51 run stand between Jayawardene and Pietersen Delhi won comprehensively by 8 wickets with 40 balls to spare, consequently propelling them to third in the overall standings.

After this dominating performance, the supremely confident Delhi side will play the Mumbai Indians next in their own den on the 16th of April while the Chennai Super Kings side, who are desperate for consistency and struggling for traction, will have to be up and running again in a couple of days time when they take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore at home on Thursday night.

Teams:

Delhi: V Sehwag, M Jayawardene, K Pietersen, N Ojha, Y Venugopal Rao, I Pathan, Y Nagar, R Van Der Merwe, S Nadeem, M Morkel, U Yadav

Chennai: F du Plessis, M Vijay, S Raina, S Badrinath, D Bravo, MS Dhoni, A Morkel, R Ashwin, R Jadeja, S Jakati, D Bollinger

Mini Scorecard:

Chennai Super Kings 110/8 (20 overs, 5.50 runs per over)
D Bravo 22(31) M Morkel 2/19
S Raina 17(16) U Yadav 1/24

Delhi Daredevils 111/2 (13.2 overs, 8.41 runs per over)
K Pietersen 41*(26) R Ashwin 1/21
V Sehwag 33(21)

Delhi won by 8 wickets with 40 balls to spare