Delhi Daredevils put up a brilliant defence of a modest looking total of 162-5 as they defeated Chennai Super Kings by 34 runs at the Feroz Shah Kotla in the IPL on Friday.
Chennai seemed to have the match under control as they restricted Daredevils to a manageable total. But apart from opener Ambati Rayudu, who scored 50, all Super Kings batsmen struggled.
Daredevils leg-spinners Amit Mishra (2-20) and Sandeep Lamichhane (1-21) broke Chennai’s back as they pulled off what was ultimately a comfortable win as the Super Kings managed just 128-6.
NGIDI ACCOUNTS FOR PANT
Ngidi dismissed Pant for the second time. Image: BCCI.
South African pacer Lungi Ngidi played just his fourth match of IPL 2018 on Friday. He opened the bowling with Deepak Chahar and was on the money throughout.
He bowled the 11th over of Delhi’s innings which turned the innings around. He first cleaned up Daredevils captain Shreyas Iyer with a quick and straight ball before getting Delhi star Rishabh Pant top edge heave towards third man.
Ngidi has now dismissed Pant twice in six deliveries across two matches, having conceded just one boundary.
JADEJA TURNS IT ON
Chennai’s left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja got the ball to grip from his first over itself. Opener Prithvi Shaw tried to slog sweep Jadeja three times in the fourth over of the innings and got top edges each time.
The left-arm spinner got rewarded for his perseverance when he bowled Glenn Maxwell round his legs as the batsman tried a reverse sweep. Jadeja finished with 1-19 from his four overs which is a top effort for a finger spinner in a small ground like the Feroz Shah Kotla.
DHONI GOES FOR BRAVO
How did Ngidi bowled just 3 ovs while Bravo got 4 ovs?
— Ajay Srinivasan (@Ajaychairman) May 18, 2018
Maybe Dhoni wants to see what Bravo can offer for the play-offs
In the final over Daredevils’ innings, captain MS Dhoni had the option of going with Ngidi (2-14) or Chahar (1-23) who both had one over up their sleeve. However, he went for Dwayne Bravo. And that proved extremely costly.
Seamer Harshal Patel hoisted Bravo for three sixes while all-rounder Vijay Shankar hit one beyond the fence as Bravo’s last over went for 26 runs. In the end, that proved to be deciding factor in the match.
RAYUDU STEAMS AHEAD
Chennai’s Ambati Rayudu is batting like a man possessed this season. The Super Kings opener was circumspect to begin with but then got into his groove as he dispatched Delhi pacer Avesh Khan for three sixes and a boundary in the sixth over that went for 22 runs.
Rayudu went on to score 50 – which was his third half century of the season to go with a ton. Rayudu has 585 runs from 13 matches this season and has been the guiding force in Chennai’s campaign this year.
SANDEEP PUTS PRESSURE ON CHENNAI
Listening to Sandeep Lamichhane's post match talk, I don't know why I felt I was listening to Nepal's future cricket captain. Maybe the Test captain. Am I expecting too much?
— Somesh ! (@SomeshVerma) May 18, 2018
Daredevils’ Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane had a good debut against Royal Challengers Bangalore where he picked up 1-25. He went one better in Delhi on Friday, dismissing Suresh Raina with a googly that the batsman mis-hit to mid wicket as Chennai were 90-3 in the 14th over.
His first three overs went for just 10 runs as Chennai required 71 from the last six overs. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra was maintaining pressure from the other end. The IPL veteran got the opening scalp of Shane Watson before taking the wicket of Sam Billings – through a top edge on a sweep – as Chennai’s innings lost momentum at 93-4 in the 15th over.
DHONI FAILS
Chennai skipper MS Dhoni has been in superb touch with the bat this year. However on Friday, it accounted for not a lot as he struggled to get any timing on the ball. Dhoni made a laborious 17 from 23 balls and mistimed a low full toss from Trent Boult to long on.
