Delhi Capitals (DC) ended Chennai Super Kings' winning streak as they defeated Gaikwad and Co. by 20 runs in Match 13 of the Indian Premier League at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium on Sunday, 31 March.
Quickfire half-centuries from David Warner and Rishabh Pant in the first innings, along with a rapid 43 runs from Prithvi Shaw's bat and Mukesh Kumar's three wickets in the second innings, were instrumental in the Capitals clinching their first win of the season.
Early Blow to CSK
In pursuit of a target of 192 runs, CSK faced an early setback when their captain Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed by Khaleel Ahmed in the first over, caught behind the stumps by Rishabh Pant after scoring just one run.
Following Gaikwad's departure, Ajinkya Rahane joined Rachin Ravindra at the crease. However, their partnership couldn't flourish as Ravindra fell to Khaleel Ahmed, caught by Tristan Stubbs, managing only two runs from 12 balls.
Daryll Mitchell, batting at number 4, then teamed up with Rahane to put together a 68-run partnership off 45 balls. However, Mitchell was later dismissed by Axar Patel, caught and bowled by the DC all-rounder.
Fiery Mukesh Kumar Spell
Rahane, who was looking sublime, was dismissed in the 14th over while attempting a big shot. He skied the ball, and it landed safely in David Warner's hands off a delivery from Mukesh Kumar. Rahane departed after a valuable contribution, scoring 45 runs from 30 balls.
Rahane departed after a valuable contribution, scoring 45 runs from 30 balls.
Image: PTI
Sameer Rizvi then joined impact sub Shivam Dube in the middle but to no avail as Mukesh Kumar made him his second victim of the day on just his next ball after Rahane’s dismissal. The youngster was sent back packing on a duck when Khaleel Ahmed completed his catch at short third man.
Mukesh struck again to claim his third wicket, with Tristan Stubbs catching Dube on 18 runs from 17 balls.
The Dhoni Special Cameo
Then, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived as MS Dhoni entered the field at number eight and immediately made an impact with a brilliant boundary. However, luck favored him when he was dropped by Khaleel Ahmed on the very next delivery. Undeterred, the former CSK captain hit another boundary to end the 17th over.
Dhoni thrilled fans with a powerful six in the 18th over against Khaleel Ahmed. He kicked off the final over with a classy boundary and followed it up with a colossal six. Despite adding more runs with another four and six, it was too late for the team as they faced a 20-run defeat. Dhoni ended his innings unbeaten at 37 runs from 16 balls, while his partner Jadeja remained not out at 21 runs from 19 balls.
Pant-Warner's Fifties
In the first innings, Veteran opener David Warner and skipper Rishabh Pant hammered quick-fire half-centuries and Prithvi Shaw blazed to a 27-ball 43 as Delhi Capitals managed to post 191/5 in 20 overs.
Veteran opener David Warner scored 52 runs off 35 balls.r
Image: PTI
Warner raced to his half-century in 32 balls while Rishabh Pant did one better as he scored his first half-century of IPL 2024 in 31 balls as Delhi Capitals after a slow start, exploded into action. Prithvi Shaw slammed a hat-trick of boundaries off Mustafizur Rahman as he and Warner raised 93 runs for the opening wicket.
After they chose to bat first, Warner and Shaw scored 24 runs from the first four overs and then 51 from the next three as they gave DC their best start of the season. With Pant looking to capitalse on the foundation after both got out in quick succession, DC looked set to go past the 200-run mark.
Pathirana's Three-Fer
However, Sri Lankan Matheesha Pathirana's three-fer applied the brakes as the bowler with a Malinga-like slinging action yorked Mitchell Marsh and Tristian Stubbs in one superb over in which he touched 150.04 on the speed gun, hampered their progress.
Spinner Matheesha Pathirana scalped three wickets.
Image: PTI
Warner and Prithvi Shaw gave Delhi Capitals a brilliant start, their best of this IPL as they blazed to 62 runs in the Power-play they raised a 93-run partnership for the opening wicket.
Mustafizur Rahman removed the Australian as Matheesha Pathirana brilliantly caught his reverse scoop, jumping into air and pouching a one-handed catch. While Shaw was dismissed by Jadeja as he extracted an outside edge and Dhoni made no mistake.
Skipper Rishabh Pant notched a 32-ball 51.
Image: PTI
Rishabh Pant and Mitchell Marsh took over the scoring but Sri Lankan pacer Matheesha Pathirana bowled a brilliant over to claim two wickets and applied the brakes on the DC scoring rate. He unleashed two superb yorkers, the second one touching 150kph on the speed gun as he uprooted the middle stump to account for Marsh (18) and Tristan Stubbs (0).
Pant lost his wicket when he was trying to hit Pathirana out of the ground but sliced and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad caught a skier as DC eventually managed to reach 191/5.
With inputs from IANS.
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