Chennai, led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, produced an all-round performance as they defeated Delhi by six wickets in the second match of the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in the national capital on Tuesday.
Opting to bat first, Shreyas Iyer-led Delhi were restricted to a score of 147/6 by the Chennai bowlers, despite a blistering half-century of 51 runs off 47 deliveries from opener Shikhar Dhawan.
Dwayne Bravo finished with the figures of three for 33 while Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja and Deepak Chahar chipped in with a wicket each.
In reply, Chennai chased down the score with two balls to spare. Shane Watson (44), Suresh Raina (30) and MS Dhoni (unbeaten at 33) were the notable scorers for the visitors.
Here are the highlights :
# Chennai beat Delhi by 6 wickets! Chennai 150/4 (19.4 overs)
# The visitors need two more runs from 6 balls! Chennai 146/3 (19 overs)
# MS Dhoni (25) and Jadhav (25) continue to stand strong at the crease as Chennai require 11 runs from 12 balls remaining. Chennai 137/3 (18 overs)
# Keemo Paul returns into the attack!
# Chennai need 24 more runs in as many balls, with MS Dhoni (14) and Kedar Jadhav (24) at the crease. Chennai 124/3 (16 overs)
# Just seven runs in the last two overs from Keemo Paul and Axar Patel. MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav are batting at their respective scores of 10 and 17 as Chennai require 36 more runs from 42 balls. Chennai 112/3 (13 overs)
# Skipper MS Dhoni comes to bat for Chennai!
# Wicket! Mishra strikes again to bag a big wicket in the form of Raina (30). The Indian batsman ended up sliding off the bat face into wicketkeeper-batsman Pant's gloves. Chennai 98/3 (10.2 overs)
# 12 runs off the last two overs for Chennai. Suresh Raina (23) and Kedar Jhadav (8) are currently batting at the crease as Chennai require 63 more runs from 11 overs. Chennai 85/2 (9 overs)
# Kedar Jadhav is the new batsman in for Chennai!
# Wicket! After getting hit with two sixes, Amit Mishra finally managed to remove big-hitting Watson for 44 runs. The Indian bowler tossed up the ball in the seventh over, propelling Watson to come out of the crease and go for a big shot over the covers. And Pant took advantage of the opportunity and rattled the stumps. Chennai 73/2 (6.5 overs)
# Suresh Raina is the new batsman in!
# Wicket! Rayudu was caught by Delhi captain Shreyas Iyer at mid-off off Ishant Sharma's fourth ball of the third over. MS Dhoni's side needs 127 more runs to win the match. Chennai 21/1 (2.4 overs)
# Chennai made a good start to their chase, adding 16 runs from their first two overs. While Watson opened his account by flicking the short ball away towards deep third man for a single, Rayudu got off the mark with a boundary in the third ball. Chennai 16/0 (2 overs)
# Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu to open the chase for Chennai. Ishant Sharma begins the proceedings for Delhi.
# Innings Break!
# Wicket! Soon after bringing up his half-century off 45 balls, Dhawan (51) looked to whip a good looking pick-up delivery from Bravo but ended up handing the second catch to Thakur at deep square leg. Delhi 130/6 (18 overs)
# Axar Patel comes to bat for Delhi!
# Wicket! Delhi have lost two wickets in quick successions in the form of Ingram and Keemo Paul. While Ingram (2) was caught by Suresh Raina at cover off Dwayne Bravo's fourth delivery of the 15th over, Paul went back to the pavilion without disturbing the scoreboard after being bowled out by Jadeja. Delhi 127/5 (17 overs)
# Colin Ingram is the new batsman in!
# Wicket! Dwayne Bravo strikes for Chennai. The Caribbean bowler delivered a length ball angling into off stump and Pant (25) whipped away a good-looking pick up shot straight to Thakur at deep square leg. Delhi 110/3 (15.2 overs)
# Rishabh Pant is the new batsman in!
# Wicket! Iyer was caught leg before wicket by Imran Tahir in the fourth delivery of the 12th over. The Delhi skipper went back to pavilion after scoring 18 runs. Delhi 80/2 (12 overs)
# Shikhar Dhawan (25) has settled at the crease and is looking to build a partnership with Iyer (18) here after losing his opening partner Shaw in the fifth over. Delhi 70/1 (11 overs)
# Delhi experienced a nervy moment when Shreyas was stumped by Dhoni off Jadeja's delivery. However, the third empire showed that the Delhi skipped had put his back foot behind the crease before Dhoni rattled the stumps. Delhi 55/1 (9 overs)
# Captain Shreyas Iyer comes to bat at No.3!
# Wicket! Chahar has handed a much-needed breakthrough to Chennai by bagging a big wicket of Shaw (24). The Indian batsman--who was looking good at the crease and dealing with boundaries--once again went for a big shot in the fifth over, but ended up giving an easy catch to Shane Watson at midwicket. Delhi 38/1 (5 overs)
# Runs are flowing in at a decent pace for Delhi. While Shaw continues to trouble the Chennai bowlers by dealing with boundaries, Dhawan finally opened his account by pushing the bat at an outswinger towards the third man for four runs. Delhi 35/0 (4 overs)
# Harbhajan Singh comes into the attack!
# An expensive second over from Thakur as he conceded 12 runs to Delhi. After bowling three deliveries without a run, the Chennai bowler was thrashed by Shaw for back-to-back three boundaries. Delhi 20/0 (2 overs)
# Shardul Thakur comes into the attack!
# Eight runs off the very first over to the hosts. Shaw got off the mark by pulling the third delivery from Chahar behind the square leg for four runs, while Dhawan is yet to open his account. Delhi 8/0 (1 over)
# Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan have walked down the crease to open the batting for Delhi. Deepak Chahar to begin the proceedings for Chennai.
# Chennai are going with an unchanged squad, while Delhi have made just one change. Amit Mishra has been called in place of Trent Boult.
# Lineups:
Chennai: Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni (wk), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir
Delhi: Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Colin Ingram, Rishabh Pant (wk), Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma
# Delhi win the toss, opt to bat first against Chennai!
# The toss is all set to take place in a few minutes!
Having kicked off the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with convincing wins, Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Team Chennai and Shreyas Iyer's Delhi will both look to capitalize on the same when they face each other in their second clash of the tournament at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Tuesday.
Chennai opened their campaign at the Indian T20 league on a perfect note as they bundled out Virat Kohli-led Bangalore for just 70 runs--sixth lowest score in the IPL history-- to clinch a seven-wicket win at M.A Chidambaram Stadium.
Pant, on the other hand, smashed a blistering knock of 78 off 27 balls to guide Delhi to a comfortable 37-run win over Mumbai in their first match.
Going into Tuesday's clash, new-look Delhi will look to take advantage of their home ground, while Chennai will take inspiration from their past records and once again rely on their experience.
The two sides have met each other 18 times in the IPL, with Chennai having an upper-hand with 12 victories in their tally.
The two squads are as follows:
Chennai: MS Dhoni (captain & WK), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav, Sam Billings, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Rituraj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, K M Asif, David Willey, Deepak Chahar, N Jagadeesan (wk).
Delhi: Colin Ingram, Manjot Karla, Prithvi Shaw, Sherfane Rutherford, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Bandaru Ayyappa, Harshal Patel, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Nathu Singh, Sandeep Lamichhane, Trent Boult, Axar Patel, Chris Morris, Colin Munro, Hanuma Vihari, Jalaj Saxena, Keemo Paul, Rahul Tewatia, Ankush Bains and Rishabh Pant.
