IPL 2023, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) vs Delhi Capitals (DC): Axar Patel's 2-27 & 21, Deepak Chahar's 2-28 and Ravindra Jadeja's 1-19 & 21 are top performances. Chennai beat Delhi and remain at 2nd place in points table.
Brief Scores: CSK 167/8 (Dube 25, Marsh 3/18, Axar 2/27) beat DC 140/8 (Rossouw 35, Pathirana 3/37, Chahar 2/28) by 27 runs.
Player of the Match: Ravindra Jadeja (1-19, 21)
Second-ranked Chennai Super Kings (CSK) who looked to distance themselves from the traffic jam in the middle part of the points table locked horns with tenth-ranked Delhi Capitals (DC) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Chennai who enjoy an upper hand over Delhi with 17 wins in 27 games is unbeaten by this opponent at Chepauk for six fixtures since 2010.
Consistent CSK puts one step closer to the playoffs
CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on winning the toss batted first on a pitch that was expected to get slower in the second half. Capitals included Lalit Yadav in place of Manish Pandey while Super Kings went with an unchanged eleven.
Electing to bat first, Chennai got off to a decent but not destructive start with 49/1 in the power play before the Delhi spinners kept the batters quiet to 66/3 at the halfway mark. Wickets kept on falling after Shivam Dube’s little cameo took them to 117/5 in 15 overs before some powerful hitting from MS Dhoni carried them to 167/8 in their 20 allotted overs.
Chasing 168, Delhi couldn’t start well scoring 47 runs but losing three wickets in the process before they were slowed down more to reach 65/3 at the halfway stage. The CSK spinners kept on putting pressure as DC could reach 91/5 in 15 overs before Chennai shut all the doors to keep Delhi on 140/8, winning the game by 27 runs.
Read More: IPL 2023, CSK vs MI: Bowlers help Chennai rise to 2nd spot; their NRR improves marginally to 0.409
Talking point: Warner’s continuous off form and Axar’s late arrival
David Warner keeps on having a really poor IPL season where he now has got 330 runs in 10 games at a low strike rate of 120.44 which is quite low regarding his skills and on a game where Delhi needed him to stay for a long time, he went back to the hut on the second ball of the chase.
Axar Patel’s arrival is under the scanner, someone who has been in really great touch of late and has scored quick runs coming down the order could have been sent earlier to get the most out of him. But coming down at number seven hasn’t helped DC at all.
Let’s scan the top performances from the game between CSK and DC
Axar-Kuldeep slowed down CSK in the middle overs with combined figures of 3/45
One of the biggest weapons for CSK to do well in this tournament has been the aggressive opening combo of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway and the opening partnership didn’t go well this evening.
Axar Patel coming for his first over found Devon Conway plumb before the stumps on 10 who went for a wild slog sweep. On his first ball of his second over, Axar sent back Ruturaj Gaikwad on 24 who looking to cheap the ball for a single was caught in the hands of the long-off fielder. This was the first time in T20s Gaikwad was dismissed to Axar besides scoring 30 runs in 27 balls.
Kuldeep Yadav too partnered him well in the bowling caging Moeen Ali on 7 who using his feet looked to guide the ball in the off side, only to see it go to the backward point fielder on a personal score of 7.
Axar Patel who finished with 2/27 in his four overs now has 110 IPL wickets in 133 games while Kuldeep Yadav who returned with figures of 1/28 in his four overs now has 70 IPL wickets in 70 games.
Ravindra Jadeja contributed in all-round performance with 21 & 1/19
Chennai were struggling at 113/5 in the 15th over when Ravindra Jadeja walked out to bat to score those crucial quick runs at the back end of the innings.
After taking quite a few singles and doubles, Jadeja finally launched a six against Kuldeep Yadav straight down the ground before smacking the full and slower delivery from Mitchell Marsh in the same region for a boundary. After sharing a 38-run stand in 18 balls with MS Dhoni, Jadeja was dismissed for 21 in 16 balls with the help of one six and one four.
He had a huge job to do with the ball on that slow surface and he did it perfectly. Jadeja kept on asking the questions to the batters, changing his pace and length as he gave away just 16 runs in his first 3 overs before caging Rilee Rossouw on 35 who looking for a huge shot was caught in the hands of the long-on fielder. The left-hander returned with figures of 1/19 in his four overs.
Deepak Chahar gave CSK a perfect start with two power play wickets
To depend 167 on that slow wicket, Chennai needed to take some early wickets to put pressure on the opponents and Deepak Chahar after coming back from his injury did the job for them.
On the second ball of his first over, Chahar dismissed David Warner on a two-ball duck who in trying to punch the ball couldn’t keep it down and was caught in the hands of the cover fielder. This is now the second time Warner has been dismissed to Chahar scoring just 55 runs in 54 balls.
On the third ball of his second over, Chahar sent back inform Philip Salt on 17 who fetched the slow short ball, and the mistimed shot was grabbed beautifully by the mid-wicket fielder.
Deepak Chahar who finished on 2/28 in his three overs now has 63 IPL wickets in 69 games.
Points table scenario and what’s coming
With seven wins in 12 games, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with 15 points and +0.493 net run rate remains in the second position whereas Delhi Capitals (DC) remains on the bottom of the table with four wins in 11 games with an NRR of -0.605.
IPL 2023 Points Table
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