File image of CSK captain MS Dhoni© BCCI/IPL
The MA Chidambaram Stadium saw yet another glimpse of the vintage MS Dhoni on Wednesday. The CSK captain punished Khaleel Ahmed in the 19th over after his team batted first against Delhi Capitals. He then marshalled his bowling resources to perfection as Chennai Super Kings comprehensively beat Delhi Capitals by 27 runs to take a giant stride towards IPL play-off. The talismanic skipper’s couple of monstrous sixes in his 9-ball 20 helped CSK get to 167 for 8. On being asked, about batting at a strike-rate of over 200 despite getting to face only a few balls, Dhoni said that post match presentation: “This is what my job is. I have told them this is what I am supposed to do. Don’t make me run a lot. It has been working. This is what I need to do, happy to contribute.
“As we get closer to the last phase of the tournament, it’s important that everybody has a few deliveries under their belt. We need to be happy with our batting. I would have loved Mitch (Santner), he’s a bowler that has done very well on flat wickets with the new ball. He hits the seam and bowls at a good pace. He (Gaikwad) is batting really well, he’s somebody once he starts scoring, he’s very effortless. He’s somebody who’s happy to rotate. He has the game awareness. He is ready to adapt. You rarely get people like that. People who read the game, those are the kind of players you need in your team,” Dhoni added.
Talking about the game, Hosts Chennai Super Kings notched up a 27-run win over Delhi Capitals, denting the visitors’ chances of reaching the IPL playoffs, in Chennai on Wednesday. Opting to bat, MS Dhoni blazed away to 20 off nine balls to help hosts Chennai Super Kings post a decent 167/8. In reply, DC batters found the going tough and could manage only 140/8 in their 20 overs.
Rilee Rossouw top-scored for Delhi with a 37 ball-35. Earlier, CSK never really got going as the Delhi bowlers kept striking at regular intervals. However, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja (21) smashed some much-needed boundaries and maximums to take them over the 160-run mark Spinners Axar Patel (2/27), Kuldeep Yadav (1/28) and Lalit Yadav (1/34) shared four wickets amongst themselves, while Mitchell Marsh took three scalps.
Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 167 for 8 in 20 Overs (Shivam Dube 25; Mitchell Marsh 3/18, Axar Patel 2/27). Delhi Capitals 140 for 8 in 20 overs (Rilee Rossouw 35; Matheesha Pathirana 3/37)
With PTI inputs
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