Four-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) rode on a complete team performance and defeated Delhi Capitals (DC) by 27 runs at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on May 10 (Wednesday). The Men in Yellow knocked David Warner's men on the doors of elimination while improving their record to seven wins after playing 12 matches. With 15 points, MS Dhoni's men are just one win away from qualifying for the playoffs.
Chasing a target of 168 runs, DC batters looked completely out of sorts on a sluggish Chepauk pitch. David Warner was dismissed for a duck on the second ball of the innings and the Delhi-based franchise never recovered after losing their captain early. After dismissing Warner, Deepak Chahar also bagged the wicket of dangerous Phil Salt (17 runs off 11 balls), Manish Pandey (27 runs off 29 balls) and Rilee Rossouw (35 runs off 37 balls) occupied the crease for a substantial period of time but the duo never got going.
After the game, Warner reflected on his team's poor performance with the bat as they kept losing wickets and failed to rotate the strike in order to get the scoreboard moving.
"Losing three wickets (in the powerplay lost it for us). This is the fifth or sixth time we have lost a wicket in the first over. And it was us throwing our wickets away. The run-out. That was a very gettable total. We just have to start well and have one of our batters bat long," Warner was quoted as saying after the match.
"Then there were four overs in the middle overs when we couldn't even rotate the strike. You can be conservative, but when you hit a wide half-tracker to cover... It was there to be hit. If good balls get you out, it is different. We just need to hit those wide half-trackers better," he added.
Earlier, CSK won the toss and elected to bat first. MS Dhoni showed his hitting prowess and hammered two big sixes to boost CSK's score to 167/ 8 in 20 overs. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 20 runs off nine balls and smacked Khaleel Ahmed for a couple of maximums in the penultimate over to give a push to the score on an evening when run-making wasn't very easy.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
'I had a chat with Mahi bhai': Deepak Chahar reveals guru mantra received from MS Dhoni after successful outing against DC
'If I bat higher then the crowd will wait for me to get out': Ravindra Jadeja gives honest reply when quizzed about batting position
