What a win for Chennai Super Kings? They have taken revenge and can be happy that they have gained two more points to move up one place in the points table.
Last over required 15 runs to win. Shewag already conceeded 22 runs in one of his overs, choose Shoaib Malik to bowl the last over. The new batsman Gony was facing and he hit a six off the first ball over mid wicket to bring down the target to 9 off 5 balls.
Shoaib thoght Gony would come down the track and hence bowled a faster one way outside the off just to be called wide. Target now is 8 off 5 balls.
The next ball took the outside edge when Gony tried to hit it over long on. The ball beat the third man and went for a four. Target new is 4 off 4 balls.
Gony scored a sing of the next ball to bring it down to 3 off 3 balls. Badrniath got the strike. He chipped the ball over extra covers for two runs. Easy for Chennai now, everyone thought--1 off 2 balls.
Badrinath played the yorker length delivery straight to bowler. Tension everywhere. If it is a tie, the teams would have to bowl at the wicket.
Fielders were brought inside the circle and one fielder was placed in mid wicket. Badri stepped down and hit it in air wide off midwicket just to escape from the fielder. The diving fielder could not catch it and they run and win! The closest match of the tournament so far.
Chennai made few changes in the team--Nitni, Patel, Anirudh Srikanth were out. Amarnath, Balaji, Kapugedera were brought in. Delhi made one change--Manoj Tiwari in for Rajat Bhatia.
Earlier, winning the toss and asking Delhi to bat, Dhoni should feel happy for restricting them to less than 200. Both the in-form batsmen opened the innings for Delhi--Shewag and Gambhir. Though Shewag was not timing the ball well as his shots did not go well as he did it in the previous match against Chennai, Delhi still managed to maintain a good run rate.
Shewag hitting just 3 fours got out in the last ball of the 5th over bowled by Gony of a beautiful Yorker on the off stump.
In the next over, de Villers was out on his first ball, bowled by Morkel. It was a good inswinger pitched on the yorker length and de Villiers missed the line and the ball uprooted the stump. At the end of 6 overs, Delhi were 50 for 2.
Gambhir initiated the momentum hitting at least one four in each over. At the end of 10 overs, Delhi were 83 for 2. The advantage Delhi had was the wickets in hand. They did not lose wickets often and were scoring steadily.
Laxmipathi Balaji, back after 2 years did not bowl to his full capacity, but he bowled well. He took two wickets in his four overs giving away 35 runs.
Gambhir reached his 50 with a six of Gony. He took 35 bals to achieve this milestone. Gambhir hit 3 continous fours of Amarnath in the 15th over. This over added 14 to the score and took it to 133 for 2 in 15 overs.
The 3rd wicket partnership was a record 121 runs in 76 balls. Kapuedera conceeded 15 runs in the 17th over. Dhawan hit two fors and Gambhir hit a four.
Balaji finally provided the break through in the 18th over last ball. He had Gambhir caught at point by Badrinath. He scored 80 in 49 balls with 11 fours and a six.
After that wickets started falling regularly. Dhwawan was out in 19th over for a wonderful 59. It came off 46 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Shoaib Malik was out in the first ball of the 20th over. With two fours and 3 singles, Delhi ended their innings.
The chase started very well. Vidyut started with a four of the first ball from McGrath and hit pull over mid wicket for another four. He hit another 2 fours in the next over bowled by Mohammad Asif and Fleming scored a four.
Good thing they did was not losing the wicket. At the end of 5 overs, Chennai were 42 for no loss.
Mahesh bowled the 6th over. Vidyut hit a six and a four and then Fleming hit him for 2 more overs. This over added 20 runs to the score and at the end of power play, Chennai were 62 for no loss.
Sangwan broke partnership immediately after the power play. The pull went straight to the fielder. He scored 40 off 23 balls with 6 fours and a six.
Dhoni promoted himself rightly for the 3rd position. He doesn't want to lose wickets and keep the scoreboard moving.
Fleming was going well at one end and Dhoni, to start with was struggling to hit boundaries. Fleming got out in the 10th over for a well made 44 off 28 balls with 7 fours.
Raina did not last long. He gave an easy catch to point. He scored 1. Morkel joined Dhoni and they both played well, but the fall of the two wickets made them cautious.
At the end of 13 overs, Chennai were 115 for 3, needing 73 from 7 overs.
Shewag's over was the turning point and gave all the confidence to Chennai. Morkel hit him for 3 continous sixes and a four. The first six over mid wicket was a big six and then over bowler's head and the third six was over midwicket again. The four was over long off. The target was revised to 50 from 6 overs.
The momentum was not continued. In the next over, poor run selection had Morkel run out. Morkel played left to McGrath who was trying to stop the ball follow up, but he missed it. Shewag covered him, picked the ball and hit direct at the stump to send Morkel, the danger man who hit 22 runs in the preivous over.
Morkel scored 30 off 15 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes. End of 15 overs, Chennai were 142 for 4, requiring 46 from 30 balls.
Asif bowled the 16th over well by giving just 6 runs. Followed by McGrath, who gave just 7 runs. With 3 more overs, 33 runs needed.
Dhonit hit a four of the last ball of the 18th over bowled by Asif. That over had 11 runs for Chennai. 22 of 12 balls.
Dhoni was out the first ball, caught brilliantly in the long on. DeVilliers came running and did a forward dive to send back Dhoni for 33 off 33 balls with 3 fours.
Next ball, another wicket for Mahesh. Kapugedera was out in the same fashion, but in long off, caught by Dhawan. Two wickets in two balls. Chennai needed 22 in 10 balls.
Badrinath hit a four of the fourth ball and the last two balls were singles. Last over required 15.
Shoaib's over had 6 by Gony, wide, four, single, two, no run and a single to give victory to Chennai in the last ball of the 20th over.
Dhoni, who played sensibly in the middle overs was declared man of the match.
With this win, Chennai moved to third place and Delhi into 4th place.
Match 28
Venue: Delhi
Date: May 8, 2008
Teams: Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings
Captains: Virendra Shewag and Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Toss: Chennai Super Kings and decided to field
Result: Chennai Super Kings won by 4 wickets with 0 balls remaining
Man of the Match: MS Dhoni off Chennai Super Kings (India)
Points: Chennai Super Kings-2; Delhi Daredevils-0
Score:
Delhi Daredevils 187 for 5 in 20 overs (G Gambhir 80, V Shewag 23, AB de Villiers 0, S Dhawan 59, Shoaib Malik 2, KD Karthik 6 not out, MK Tiwari 5 not out, Extras—12 (lb 6, wide 4, nb 2), M Gony 4-0-36-1, JA Morkel 4-0-35-2, M Muralitharan 4-0-25-0, P Amarnath 3-0-35-0, L Balaji 4-0-35-2, CK Kapugedera 1-0-15-0) lost to Chennai Super Kings 188 for 6 in 20 overs (S Vidyut 40, SP Fleming 44, MS Dhoni 33, SK Raina 1, JA Morkel 30, CK Kapugedera 8, S Badrinath 8 not out, M Gony 13 not out, Extras-11 (b 1, lb 4, wide 6), GD McGrath 4-0-23-0, Mohammad Asif 4-0-33-1, VY Mahesh 4-0-40-2, P Sangwan 4-0-29-2, Shoaib Malik 2-0-28-0, V Sehwag 2-0-30-0)
