Chennai Super Kings crushed Delhi Daredevils by 93 runs in a thoroughly one-sided game in Abu Dhabi. Super Kings started steadily after choosing to bat, but Suresh Raina’s busy fifty in the middle and a late surge catapulted them to 177. Their quicks tied Daredevils down with accurate swing bowling, and electric catching from Raina and Faf du Plessis made it harder. The middle order sank without a fight, and by the halfway stage of the chase, the match was as good as over.
Brendon McCullum had said that with such a powerful line-up, Super Kings would go hard right from the start. But they stuck to their tested approach of starting steady, keeping wickets in hand and exploding at the death. Super Kings were 34 for 1 after the end of the Powerplay and 65 for 1 after ten overs. They took 58 off the last four overs with swift contributions from MS Dhoni, du Plessis and Mithun Manhas.
Daredevils lost the services of Nathan Coulter-Nile three deliveries into the match, the fast bowler hobbling off after hurting his leg while sliding to stop a ball. To his credit, Dinesh Karthik still managed to keep Jaydev Unadkat and Mohammed Shami for the final four without suffering too much damage in the middle overs but led by Dhoni, Super Kings had too much firepower in store. Dhoni blitzed 32 off 15, almost smacking Unadkat flush on the head before the bowler somehow scrambled to avoid a fearsome straight hit.
Chennai
DR Smith b Nadeem 29
BB McCullum c sub (WD Parnell) b Unadkat 9
SK Raina c Vijay b Neesham 56
F du Plessis c Vijay b Mohammed Shami 24
MS Dhoni*† c Agarwal b Unadkat 32
RA Jadeja c †Karthik b Unadkat 7
M Manhas not out 13
R Ashwin run out (Mohammed Shami) 1
BW Hilfenhaus not out 0
Extras (lb 3, w 3) 6
Total (7 wickets; 20 overs) 177
Did not batMM Sharma, IC Pandey
Fall of wickets 1-23 (McCullum, 3.2 ov), 2-77 (Smith, 10.6 ov), 3-108 (Raina, 14.4 ov), 4-141 (du Plessis, 17.2 ov), 5-156 (Dhoni, 18.4 ov), 6-162 (Jadeja, 18.6 ov), 7-173 (Ashwin, 19.5 ov)
Bowling
JP Duminy 4-0-26-0, Mohammed Shami 4-0-45-1, S Nadeem 3-0-29-1, JD Unadkat 4-0-32-3, JDS Neesham 4-0-29-1, M Vijay 1-0-13-0
Delhi T20
MA Agarwal c Raina b Pandey 2
M Vijay c du Plessis b Sharma 11
KD Karthik*† b Ashwin 21
MK Tiwary c du Plessis b Pandey 0
JP Duminy lbw b Smith 15
LRPL Taylor c †Dhoni b Hilfenhaus 6
JDS Neesham c Raina b Jadeja 22
S Nadeem c & b Jadeja 3
Mohammed Shami c McCullum b Ashwin 1
JD Unadkat not out 1
NM Coulter-Nile absent hurt
Extras (w 2) 2
Total (all out; 15.4 overs) 84
Fall of wickets 1-8 (Agarwal, 2.1 ov), 2-15 (Vijay, 3.3 ov), 3-17 (Tiwary, 4.2 ov), 4-42 (Duminy, 8.1 ov), 5-50 (Taylor, 9.2 ov), 6-74 (Karthik, 12.1 ov), 7-80 (Neesham, 13.5 ov), 8-82 (Mohammed Shami, 14.2 ov), 9-84 (Nadeem, 15.4 ov)
Bowling
IC Pandey 4-0-23-2, BW Hilfenhaus 2-0-9-1, MM Sharma 3-0-17-1, DR Smith 2-0-14-1, RA Jadeja 2.4-0-18-2, R Ashwin 2-0-3-2
Match details
Toss – Chennai T20, who chose to bat
Player of the match – tba
Umpires – RK Illingworth (England) and C Shamshuddin (India)
TV umpire – HDPK Dharmasena (Sri Lanka)
Match referee – GF Labrooy (Sri Lanka)
- Reserve umpire – K Srinath (India)
