Picture : Twitter / IPL
In a match that was touted to be a face-off between the master legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his student Rishabh Pant , it was the student who had the last laugh.
Yes, the newly appointed young skipper of the Delhi Capitals Rishabh Pant and his team has begun well in this long tournament. They beat the Chennai Super Kings at Wankhede stadium in front of empty stands by 7 wickets.
Earlier Rishabh Pant won the toss and elected to field first. Chennai Super Kings were rocked early with Faf du Plessis (0) and Ruturaj Gaikwad out for (5) falling to Chris Woakes and Avesh Khan respectively . But Moen Ali 36 off 24 balls , four fours and two sixes. Experienced Suresh Raina has been one of the batting mainstays of the CSK over the years scored 54 off 36 balls with three fours and four sixes. He missed last year’s tournament due to personal reasons . Ambati Rayudu ( 23 ), Ravindra Jadeja returning after long injury scored ( 26). Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not trouble the scorers with 0. English all- rounder Sam Curran’s cameo 34 off 15 balls with 4 fours and two sixes saw CSK reach a competitive 188/ 7 in their 20 overs.
For the Delhi Capitals the bowling figures were : Chris Woakes was brilliant upfront with 2/18 (3 overs) , Avesh Khan 2/23 ( 4 overs), Ravichandran Ashwin was expensive 1/47 ( 4 overs), Tom Curran 1/ 40 ( 4 overs), Amit Mishra 0/ 27 (3 overs), Marcus Stoinis 0/ 26 ( 2 overs)
Chasing a stiff target The capitals need a good start. And what a start the Capitals got . The openers Prithvi Shaw and experienced Shikhar Dhawan were top class . The duo took the game away from the CSK with their blazing start . Shaw, carrying on his good domestic form scored a n entertaining 72 off 38 balls with 9 fours and three sixes . Shikhar Dhawan has been in good form too and he too carried on his his last year’s IPL form with a fine 85 off 54 balls with 10 fours and two sixes. The duo put on 138 for the first wicket. CSK and MSD were left clueless. Adding to their woes were their poor fielding with Shaw been dropped twice .
Skipper Rishabh Pant fittingly hit the winning runs with a four and remained unbeaten on 15. Marcus Stoinis fell after attempting to finish the match in hurry. Not before striking so0me power blows in his brief 14. Shimron Hetmyer was needed to face a ball as Capitals romped home in style with an emphatic win by 7 wickets .
Capitals finishing at 190/ 3 in 18. 4 overs. With net run- rate coming into play in the later stages it is pertinent for sides to have a good run rate from early on and not wait till the end to qualify.
Chennai Super Kings bowling was a let- down skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coach Stephen Fleming will have to re- work their plans for the future matches. Deepak Chahar 0/36 (4 overs), Sam Curran 0/24 (2 overs), Shardul Thakur was hammered all over the ground and had a miserable figures 2/52 ( 3.4 overs), Ravindra Jadeja 0/16 ( 2 overs)
Moeen Ali 0/33 (3 overs) , Dwayne Bravo 1/28 ( 4 overs)
