New Delhi, April 18, 2013
Hussey and Dhoni help the visitors score 109 off the final 10 overs; Mohit kills the chase with early wickets
It is quite likely that Ricky Ponting would walk up to a crestfallen Mahela Jayawardene in their hotel lobby on Friday morning and express sympathies following Thursday’s morale-shattering defeat inflicted by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men.
After all, Ponting went through similar emotions after the drubbing Mumbai Indians received at the hands of Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday night.
But no amount of encouraging words is going to make Jayawardene and Delhi Daredevils any better. After all, chasing 170, DD crashed to 83 — the season’s lowest — thus leaving CSK winner by a whopping margin of 86 runs. In any case, dealing with six defeats in a winless campaign will not be easy.
Calculated assault
CSK, looking to move into the top bracket after two early losses, produced just the kind of performance its fans expect. A calculated assaulted from its frontline batsmen was well complemented by the bowlers. Daredevils, looking increasingly clueless, suffered its worst defeat in this edition.
In fact, it appeared as though CSK simply followed the script that RR wrote against MI after winning the toss. Like RR’s Ajinkya Rahane, CSK opener Michael Hussey (65 not out) carried his bat to ensure a challenging total, 169 for four to be precise, on the board.
Thereafter, like RR’s Ajit Chandila, it was another domestic talent, medium-pacer Mohit Sharma who reinforced CSK’s grip on the match by sending back David Warner, Virender Sehwag and Manpreet Juneja to leave DD staring at defeat.
Thereafter, the sequence of dismissals stopped only with the fall of the last wicket in the 18th over.
Brisk start
As a result, the match never rose as a contest at any point. CSK’s third victory ended in DD’s sixth loss in as many games.
The brisk start by M. Vijay and the act of consolidation from Suresh Raina was pushed into the background once Dhoni joined Hussey. The Australian produced an amalgam of style and substance, Dhoni played like the way only he does.
With wickets in hand, CSK exploded from 60 in 10 overs to produce 109 runs in the second half of the innings. Morne Morkel, hit for 19 runs in the 18th over, surprisingly proved the most expensive bowler on view.
When DD chased, each of the CSK bowlers picked up at least a wicket. Amidst the ruins, only Kedar Jadhav stood out.
After Sehwag hit a six and four in his 13-ball 17, only Jadhav managed to reach double-digits. In fact, for the second successive match, Jadhav top-scored but failed to break DD’s losing streak.
Overall, CSK produced an emphatic show at the expense of a non-performing DD which now looks to open its account against MI Indians on Sunday.
