IPL 2024: Delhi registers first win, beats Chennai Super Kings by 20 runs
CHENNAI: Ajinkya Rahane's 45 and some late hitting from MS Dhoni was not enough for Chennai Super Kings as Delhi Capitals registered their first win of this season of the Indian Premier League on Sunday.
Chennai Super Kings were rocked early in the chase when Khaleel Ahmed got the wicket of Chennai captain Ruturaj Gaikwad in the opening over. Rahane came all guns blazing straight away, but Rachin Ravindra could not find his feet and was caught by Tristan Stubbs to give Ahmed his second wicket.
Rahane and Daryl Mitchell first steadied the ship and attacked later to make the job harder for Delhi. Mitchell did hit Axar Patel for a six, but the spinner came back to take the New Zealand allrounder's wicket. Mukesh Kumar took two wickets in two balls to rock Chennai in his very first over. Mukesh came back to remove Shivam Dube, who was looking threatening with the bat.
Dube's wicket brought MS Dhoni in the middle with the bat for the first this season and the crowd favorite did not disappoint. The former captain smashed the first ball he faced from Mukesh for a boundary followed by one more in that over. At one moment it felt like Chennai were well and truly in the chase with Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja in the middle, but Ahmed gave away 12 in his final over and Mukesh bowled one of the best penultimate over of the season to give only five runs from it. Dhoni freed his arms to score 20 runs off Anrich Nortje's final over, but it was not enough for the defending champion as they fell short by 20 runs.
Earlier, looking to win their first fixture of the season, Delhi Capitals captain opted to bat first at their home ground at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. Warner found a new opening partner in Shaw and the duo started cautiously against the Chennai pacers. However, Warner changed the momentum taking 18 runs off Deepak Chahar's third over. Mustafizur Rahman was punished straightaway when Shaw hit three back-to-to-back boundaries off the Bangladesh pacer.
Matheesha Pathirana then bowled his opening over without conceding a boundary, but he could not Warner from scoring his first half-century of the season. That joy was short-lived as the Sri Lankan took a sensational diving catch to send Warner back. Shaw, too, perished soon, courtesy of a sharp catch by MS Dhoni behind the wickets.
Pant, batting at three, then found a new partner in Mitchell March, but Pathirana bowled two searing yorkers, to end Marsh and Stubbs' stay. Looking at this destruction from the non-strikers' end, Pant took it upon himself to take Delhi past 150. He went after Tushar Deshpande and Rahman to show his class. Pathirana felt the heat as well when the captain smashed him for 16 runs in the penultimate over to reach his first fifty off 31 balls. He fell in the same Pathirana over, but Delhi had already posted their highest score of the season at that time. Abishek Porel and Axar Patel added 12 more runs in the final over to take Delhi's total to 191 for five in the first innings.
Brief Score: 191/5 in 20 ovs (David Warner 52, Rishabh Pant; Matheesha Pathirana 3/31) beat Chennai Super Kings 171/6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 45, MS Dhoni 37 n.o, Mukesh Kumar 3/21)