A sublime batting display by Delhi Capitals openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan propelled their side to a dominant seven-wicket victory over the Chennai Super Kings in Mumbai on Saturday.
In his first game as captain of the Capitals, Risbah Pant won the toss and elected to field. They were without premier fast-bowling duo Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, who are both still quarantining since arriving from South Africa.
The Super Kings got off to a very sluggish start and found themselves 7-2 early on after a duck for Faf du Plessis. At the end of the PowerPlay they had made only 33 runs.
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Moeen Ali and Suresh Raina did well to recover for Chennai and wrest the ascendency away from the Capitals. Raina’s 54 off 36 balls laid the platform for his side to set a decent total.
A fighting cameo by Sam Curran at the death was enough to take Chennai Super Kings to 188-7 for their 20 overs. They would have felt the happier of the two sides going into the innings break, knowing they had set a competitive target being sent in to bat and under pressure early on.
As soon as Delhi Capitals came into bat, it became the Shaw Dhawan show, however. The two openers put on an 100-run opening stand to all but seal the chase for the Capitals.
Shaw was particularly destructive making 71 runs off only 38 balls before finally being caught on the boundary by Moeen Ali. After the wicket of Shaw, it was the turn of Dhawan to be the aggressor. He went on to make 85 (54) before being trapped lbw in the 17th over by Shardul Thakur.
CSK will rue their missed chances and particularly Mitchell Santner’s dropped catch of Shaw that could have halted Delhi’s momentum at a critical stage in the chase.
As it happened, Delhi’s openers did enough between them to effectively secure the outcome. It was left to Risbah Pant and Marcus Stoinis to tick off the meagre remaining runs needed, which they did almost without trouble.
Stoinis holed out in what proved to be the penultimate ball of the innings, before Pant ended proceedings with a dismissive boundary. dor the Capitals to get over the line with eight balls remaining.
