CHENNAI: It's that time of the Indian Summer when temperatures are regularly in the 40s. Heatwaves are normal, water bottles are essential and heatstrokes a danger. Roughly around the same time, cricket surfaces up and down the country show some signs of fatigue. Even in seasons dominated by bat, the bowlers finally have something to cherish.
Tuesday was one such occurrence in the Indian Premier League (IPL). On a sluggish looking surface, both teams — Delhi Capitals and Chennai Super Kings — found the going tough with the bat. Hitting through the line was tricky and the batting units had to very quickly adjust with an alien strip, reportedly being used for the first time this season.
But the conditions made for riveting viewing because there was a genuine contest between bat and ball. Both teams needed a win to breathe new life into their inconsistent campaigns. Chennai, three wins in the last five after one in their first four, immediately knew they had lots to work with on a surface thanks to their spinners.
Both Noor Ahmad and Akeal Hosein are different bowlers as they operate in different phases of play but they are both very accurate, keep the pads in play and can move the ball. Hosein, a powerplay operator, had immediate reward as he accounted for KL Rahul in the last over of the powerplay.
The West Indian is a cunning operator and likes to play with his speed. And he has multiple variations, including the delivery which comes in with the angle. This time, he turned it away and Rahul, wanting to move the score along, targeted the real estate down the ground. But this slowish ball beat him in the air and ended offering a simple catch to Ruturaj Gaikwad.
This is exactly what he has done for a number of years to become a part of a number of T20 sides. Use the surface to his advantage, vary his speeds and beat batters with a combination of skill and conditions. His evening of one for 19 from four overs gave the visitors a foothold in the game.
From the end where Hosein had sent three powerplay overs, Gaikwad, who has had issued in marshalling his bowling resources since becoming captain, brought on Ahmad. The wrist-spinner was rewarded in the very first over as he removed Karun Nair.
He wasn't bowling as well as he would have liked but because of the nature of the surface and Delhi's less than ideal start, they were circumspect. And when he removed Nitish Rana in the 10th over, they had crumbled to 61/4.
In the end, they managed 156, a somewhat competitive score. But with lots of dew, that was never going to enough. And so it proved as the visitors ran away with the match in the back-end. And the inspiration behind the win came from the blade of Sanju Samson.
This season has generally been Samson or bust for the five-time champions. On this surface, Samson decided to take his time before launching into the pacers. A sequence of 4, 4, 1, 1, 6, 6, 4 and 2 settled the nerves for them.
This win means CSK are now at 10 points with four games remaining. They still need multiple favours from other sides to finish in the top four but this represents a significant improvement from where they were in the opening weeks of the season. Post a short break, they face Lucknow in an afternoon game in Chennai on Sunday.
Brief scores: DC 155/7 in 20 ovs (Rizvi 40 n.o, Stubbs 38; Noor 2/22, Overton 1/5, Akeal 1/19) lost to CSK 159/2 in 17.3 ovs (Sanju 87 n.o, Kartik 41).
