IPL 2018: Match 52, Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings– Expectation vs Reality

Thursday’s fixture of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 will be important to the two participating teams for very different reasons. Although essentially a dead-rubber encounter, the match will be a tactical gameplay for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in order to keep themselves within the top two positions of the points table for the playoffs. On the other hand, Delhi Daredevils (DD) will be desperate to salvage their pride through a victory.

While CSK has already qualified for the playoffs, the Delhi side is the only team who have no chance whatsoever of making it past the round-robin stage of the ongoing season of the IPL. In spite of a few great knocks from the bats of Rishabh Pant, Prithvi Shaw and Shreyas Iyer, DD have lacked the cohesion a winning team requires. CSK, on the other hand, has emerged as one of the most balanced sides of the tournament and have been reaping its benefits.

Before the real action begins, here’s a sneak peek into what we’re expecting from the encounter.

Harbhajan Singh to make it count for the CSK

Ace spinner, Harbhajan Singh was brought over by the CSK in order to add the much-needed experience to the spin department. Although his bowling has seemed to lack teeth in the past few matches, we can expect him to utilise the Feroz Shah Kotla pitch to the best of his abilities and attempt to perplex the opposition batsmen as much as possible.

As was very evident from DD’s previous encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) where Yuzvendra Chahal and Moeen Ali scalped 3 wickets between themselves, the Iyer-led side isn’t all too comfortable against spin bowling. Singh will look to exploit that and improve on his tally of 7 dismissals in 11 matches by unleashing his inner spin ‘turbanator’.

Prithvi Shaw to work his magic with the willow

DD are scraping at the bottom of the points table at the end of what can only be termed as a horrific season for them. With only two more matches to go and both being scheduled at their home ground, they’ll be eyeing consecutive victories to give their fans something to cheer about. Who better to help his team along than the U-19 sensation Prithvi Shaw?

Shaw has been in stupendous form in IPL 2018 and has already compelled critics to draw parallels with a young Sachin Tendulkar. Boating of 216 runs in 7 matches, the youngster can be expected to contribute to his team’s cause and produce a significant knock from his bat. If DD are to have a shot at winning against as strong and confident a side as the CSK, they’ll need Shaw, along with Pant and Jason Roy to step up and deliver with the bat and also hope that the bowlers hold up their end of the bargain.

Here’s the reality right after the match..

Shankar and Harshal propel Delhi

After being invited to bat first, the hosts lost Prithvi Shaw early to bring the duo of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant to the middle. They added 54 runs for the second wicket but the clever bowling from CSK kept the lid on the run-scoring. However, once the partnership was broken, they endured a collapse and were threatened to get bowled out under 20 overs. But Vijay Shankar and especially Harshal Patel batted brilliantly. They took 26 runs off the last over Dwayne Bravo and propelled the total of their side to 162 runs.

Disciplined bowling effort

Ambati Rayudu once again led the chase for CSK as he slammed a 28-ball fifty but got out off the very next ball. Probably his wicket was the game-changing one as the Men in Yellow struggled to get the ball away then. The bowlers bowled to the plan and kept on deceiving the batsmen with their variations. Amit Mishra was special on the day as he came to the party picking important wicket and even Sandeep Lamichhane kept his nerves against some of the best batsmen. The death overs bowling was also superb as they sealed the game easily by 34 runs in the end.

Though the result of the game is inconsequential, Delhi will take a lot of confidence out of this game ahead of their final league clash against Mumbai Indians (MI).

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