IPL 2018: Match 30, CSK vs DD-Who Said What

The match between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Daredevils (DD) at the MCA Stadium in Pune turned out to be another thriller. The home team smashed their way away to a mammoth score. The likes of Shane Watson and MS Dhoni helped CSK to over 210 runs. Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar tried to defy the inevitable but ultimately couldn’t take Delhi Daredevils over the finish line as they slumped yet again, this time by 13 runs.

Watson and Dhoni blaze away

After Shreyas Iyer won the toss and decided to have a crack at the Chennai batsmen, nothing went right for the visitors. Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis picked the bones out of their bowling with a century partnership and it set the platform for another massive score. Watson looked good for his second ton, however, that wasn’t the case as Amit Mishra got rid of him in the 14th over.

Suresh Raina couldn’t quite take advantage of the conditions and perished to Glenn Maxwell. MS Dhoni and Ambati Rayudu then carried on the good work by the openers and smashed the bowlers to all corners of the ground. They put on 79 runs in 36 balls, which helped CSK breach the 200-run mark. Dhoni yet again found his rhythm from the word go and smacked 51 runs off 24 balls.

Pant and Shankar tries hard, but couldn’t get Delhi home

Colin Munro started the run chase with a flurry of boundaries, but KM Asif nipped him out against the run of play. Prior to that, Asif dismissed Prithvi Shaw and picked up his maiden wicket in the tournament in his debut match. Shreyas Iyer couldn’t repeat his heroics last night and succumbed to a run-out after getting involved in a horrendous mix-up with Rishabh Pant.

Glenn Maxwell was pinned by Ravindra Jadeja and with four wickets down, the onus was on Rishabh Pant to garner some sort of momentum into the innings. He played a superb hand and got Delhi close to the target. But Lungi Ngidi got rid of him to dent Delhi’s chances. Vijay Shankar tried his best with a swashbuckling half-century, but couldn’t get them over the line.

Shreyas Iyer, the skipper of Delhi Daredevils, said

“Too many runs on the board. I would like to complain about the first ball wicket (smiles). It did not go our way and that could have made a massive impact in the match. The way Watson started it totally changed the game. Not only me, the whole dressing room and obviously you also think the same – that ball hit the pad first and then the bat (laughs). We got really close and it is a positive going into the next match. We need to win 6 in the remaining 6 matches and that is the only motivation going forward. We need to point out the mistakes we have done and we will try to bounce back strong. We will be having a meeting with management regarding the team changes. If we try to keep the team stable, we will do well in the upcoming matches.”

MS Dhoni, captain of Chennai Super Kings, said  

Back is bad but nothing much can be done. I have not been training much because of it. There is a bit of pain but I think I will manage. It is very important for us to get a good platform and then I can promote myself up the order. Looking at the wicket we thought we needed an overseas batsmen. With Faf opening and Rayudu it gives more stability to the batting order. Rayudu can bat anywhere in the order and he is keen to take any responsibility. Lungi has impressed me right from the South Africa. If he keeps coming good it will be good for us. Eliminators will be at the small ground and we will have to think about our death bowling. Bowlers have to adapt otherwise we will have to look at other options.

Player of the Match, Shane Watson, said

I wanted to help the team in the previous games but to be able to play this innings against DD is a good confidence builder. I was targeting the short side of the ground and wind was also blowing in that direction. It was good to get few out of the middle. Trent Boult is a world class bowler and MS hit him really well. He is hitting the ball incredibly as well as he has ever hit”.