Twitter Reactions: Shimron Hetmyer keeps his calm to take DC over the line against CSK in a thriller

CSK had almost defended 135, but Hetmyer did well to take his team to the top of the points table.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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Shimron Hetmyer and Dwayne Bravo
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Shimron Hetmyer and Dwayne Bravo. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Was it a rehearsal of the final? May be yes, may be no! Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals are the top two teams of IPL 2021 currently and they played like one. Despite making it to the playoffs, both the teams tried their best to get one over the other. If Shardul Thakur’s 15th over was the turning point in the game, Krishnappa Gowtham dropping Hetmyer at a crucial juncture turned it into DC’s favour. Irrespective of the drop, Hetmyer should get the credit as he kept his cool and churned boundaries when needed to help his side get over the line.

Earlier, CSK lost their way early in the innings. Their famous opening pair of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis was broken early courtesy of Anrich Nortje. Soon the centurion from the last game, Ruturaj also went back to the hunt even as the spinners, Axar Patel and Ravi Ashwin spun a web around CSK’s batters. Robin Uthappa and Moeen Ali also followed soon with the Men in Yellow struggling at 62/4 in the 8th over at one stage.

Ambati Rayudu and MS Dhoni then joined hands to rebuild the innings and expectedly, on a slow pitch, the run-rate came down significantly. Dhoni continued to looks rusty in his approach with the bat but one felt he was willing to spend some crucial time in the middle ahead of the playoffs. At the other end, Rayudu played a superb knock taking on the bowlers and churning out crucial boundaries when needed.

DC bowled well keeping both the batsmen on their toes all the time. However, some good figures were disturbed a little in the 18th and 19th over with Rayudu managing hit a few boundaries. CSK scored 28 runs in those two overs and somehow managed to muster 136 runs in their 20 overs. Rayudu scored a masterly half-century to remain unbeaten on 55 off 43 deliveries.

Brave Hetmyer takes DC home in a thriller

Prithvi Shaw scored a flurry of boundaries to start the innings with but he couldn’t continue as Deepak Chahar snaffled him early. Shreyas Iyer also got out soon but Shikhar Dhawan seemed to be batting on a different surface. He smacked 21 runs off Chahar’s third over of the innings to get things going.

As expected, run-rate came down after the powerplay. Rishabh Pant was successful in hitting a couple of good boundaries but went one shot too many as he top-edged one off Ravindra Jadeja. Ripal Patel also got out after mustering 18 runs and at 93/4 in the 13th over, things started to turn CSK’s way a bit.

However, Dhawan was key at the other end. But the 15th over from Shardul Thakur turned the game on its head. He snaffled Ravi Ashwin and then Dhawan to concede only a single run. From here on, CSK squeezed runs to bring the equation down to 28 runs off last three overs and MS Dhoni turned to his best death bowler, Dwayne Bravo.

But the man was wayward to start with. Shimron Hetmyer read his mind to smack a couple of fours and churn out a total of 12 runs in the over to bring the required runs to 16 off 12 balls. The southpaw then did well to smash Josh Hazlewood for a six as well to make it a run a ball going into the final over and despite Axar Patel getting out with two runs needed, DC got over the line with two balls left in the innings.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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