Zaheer Khan turns back the clock as Delhi Daredevils make light work of Chennai Super Kings
A very disciplined show from the Delhi Daredevils bowlers helped them to beat Chennai Super Kings by 6 wickets in a low-scoring encounter at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur in the 49th Match of the Indian Premier League 2015.
After electing to bat first, Chennai Super Kings had a really slow start as they could only manage to score 16 runs in the first 6 overs. This was the third lowest Powerplay score for them across all 8 seasons.
The Delhi bowlers bowled really tight lines and gave nothing away to the batsmen, which created a lot pressure. This resulted in a wicket as the in-form Brendon McCullum (11) was scalped by Zaheer Khan in the 6th over of the innings. Zaheer seemed to have turned back the clock as he bowled with speed, venom and swing to leave the Chennai batsmen in all sorts of discomfort.
He was well supported by the other bowlers too. In the 9th over, Albie Morkel was brought in and he straight away took the wicket of Dwayne Smith who got out on 18.
At the halfway stage of their innings, CSK were reeling at 46 for 3 after Raina had just got out (11). MS Dhoni and Faf du Plessis then steadied the ship a little as they added 36 runs to the tally, but du Plessis got out for 29 once Morkel was brought back into the attack.
CSK eventually got to 119/6 in their 20 overs thanks to a watchful innings by Dhoni (27). Zaheer Khan (4-1-9-2) and Albie Morkel (4-0-21-2) bowled brilliantly to restrict the table toppers, and Zak was even seen encouraging and helping the other bowlers – a really heartening sight for an Indian cricket fan.
DD made light work of the chase
After DD came in to bat, their top order seemed to get a little shaken by the early departure of Quinton De Kock (3) and JP Duminy (10) in a span of 10 deliveries. They were 24 for 2 after 5 overs, but from then Shreyas Iyer and Yuvraj Singh steadied the ship, stitching together a partnership of 69 runs for the 3rd wicket.
Though Yuvraj (32) was dismissed in the 14th over, Iyer continued his good work and led to the team to a comfortable victory with a 49-ball 70.
This game proved that there are no real favourites in the IPL; the team which performs well on the day can always registser a win. This was DD’s fifth win in this year’s tournament and they lie in the seventh spot. Even though they are already out of contention for a spot in the play-offs, they showed tremedous intensity and would have wished to have got their combinations right at an earlier stage of the season.
Zaheer was injured for most of the IPL, Mohammad Shami was ruled out entirely and the decision to drop Albie Morkel proved to be costly for them early on. CSK on the other hand looked pretty ordinary today with both the bat and the ball. They still have not qualified for the playoffs and would look to win their final game to cement their place in the top 4.
For Delhi though, the season seems to be ending on a high note, even if the team struggled a little mid-way through the tournament. This might just be a sign of better thigns to come from them next season.