The eighth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) saw its first nail-biter in which favourites Chennai Super Kings (CSK) managed to clinch the thriller by a run against Delhi Daredevils (DD) who are still finding a way to win a game.
A new-look side and a new captain didn’t change the fortunes of the Delhi side as they slumped to another IPL loss. It’s indeed a positive start for the MS Dhoni led CSK, who successfully managed to defend 150. Winning the toss, DD’s new skipper JP Duminy elected to field. CSK started with all guns blazing but Nathan Coulter-Nile struck early and picked the key wickets of Brendon McCullum and Suresh Raina. The spin bowlers Amit Mishra and Imran Tahir got the run-flow down and at half way mark the team from north must have been happy to restrict the two-time IPL champions to only 150.
It was veteran Ashish Nehra who starred with the ball, as he put DD on the back-foot early on with three wickets. He also kept the run-flow down and deservingly was awarded the man-of-the-match for his figures of 4-0-25-3. In a baffling move, DD decided to keep their key batsmen Yuvraj and Duminy for too late. While at one end, Albie Morkel held the fort, they kept losing wickets at the other end.
Match turning point: Yuvraj came in to bat at no. 6 with 64 needed from 41 balls. Just when it seemed he was moving on with the game, his wicket was a big blow. Duminy came in next and fell cheaply. At 106 for 6 in the 16th over, the easy chase began looking daunting. In fact, the decision to have Yuvraj at six and Duminy at seven was quite baffling by DD.
DD needed 19 from the last over which was bowled by Dwayne Bravo. Morkel managed to get 13 from the first five and now with six needed from one, he almost struck a perfect blow which just fell a few meters inside the rope at long-off. It was one bounce and four and quite agonisingly the few meters proved to be the difference between a loss and the win. CSK got two crucial points which will matter in the end, while DD will have to look for a way to win. They need to get their combination and batting positions right. It’s also quite surprising to see the likes of Manoj Tiwary warming the bench.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 150 for 7 in 20 overs [Dwayne Smith 34 (31), Faf du Plessis 32 (24), MS Dhoni 30 (27); Nathan Coulter-Nile 4-0-30-3, Amit Mishra 4-0-21-1] bt Delhi Daredevils 149 for 9 in 20 overs [Albie Morkel 73 (55)*; Ashish Nehra 4-0-25-3, Dwayne Bravo 4-0-36-2, Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-25-2] – by one run
Written by 
