Four-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have become the second team to qualify for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 playoffs after thrashing a listless Delhi Capitals by 77 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Saturday.
After Devon Conway scored 87 and Ruturaj Gaikwad slammed 79 in a stellar 141-run opening partnership, Chennai posted a massive 223/3. The M.S. Dhoni-led side then took three wickets in the powerplay of the chase and made strikes regularly to restrict Delhi to 146/9, despite David Warner waging a lone battle with a fighting 86.
Electing to bat first, Chennai began aggressively with Gaikwad whipping nicely for fours off Khaleel Ahmed and Lalit Yadav. Devon Conway brought up the 1000th six of the tournament by dancing down the pitch to drive over Lalit's head into the sightscreen. Conway then feasted on full and short balls from Khaleel to pick fours via flick and slash in the third over.
Despite the introduction of Axar and Anrich Nortje, there was no stopping Chennai as Gaikwad lofted off the former for a six over cover while Conway pulled off his wrists and brought out a drive presenting the full face of the bat off the tearaway pacer for back-to-back fours as 50 runs came in just five overs.
Gaikwad's brilliance on the backfoot continued when he pulled Kuldeep in the seventh over and broke a lull of three boundary-less overs by rocking back twice to hit sixes off Axar, before getting his fifty in 37 balls.
After Conway whipped and pulled off Sakariya for back-to-back fours in the eleventh over, Gaikwad smacked a hat-trick of sixes off Kuldeep's fuller balls in the next over. A clean loft over long-off was followed by clearing wide long-on and bowler's head with immaculate ease.
Gaikwad's sterling run continued when he used Nortje's pace to pull over fine leg for six, followed by Conway hitting a maximum by effortlessly whipping off Khaleel to reach his fifty in 33 balls, before pulling again off the pacer for four more in the 14th over.
The opening stand was broken in the 15th over when Gaikwad miscued a pull to deep square leg off a slower ball from Sakariya. But Conway marched forward by upper-cutting off Sakariya and thumping Lalit Yadav over his head for a brace of fours.
Dube joined the party by smashing Yadav down the ground for six before Conway chipped off the backfoot to hit a four between long-on and long-off. The New Zealander got an outside edge off Nortje for four and followed it up with a sizzling short-arm jab for six.
Dube's fruitful promotion to three continued when his mistimed swing still cleared deep mid-wicket off Khaleel and cleanly swung over the bowler's head for a brace of sixes, before he and Conway holed out in the deep in quick succession.
Jadeja brought up Chennai's 200 in the 19th over by smashing Nortje over long-on for six and steered one past backward point for four more. Jadeja flicked and swiped off Sakariya for back-to-back fours in the final over yielding 16 runs, despite M.S. Dhoni not getting a boundary.
In such a tall chase, Delhi needed big runs from the word go, but the opposite happened of it in the Power-play. Prithvi Shaw mistimed his loft to mid-off against Tushar Deshpande while Deepak Chahar had Phil Salt chipping straight to cover and Rilee Rossouw chopping onto his stumps on consecutive deliveries as Delhi were in tatters at 26/3 in 4.5 overs.
But Warner waged a lone battle, smashing boundaries off Deshpande and Chahar with ease, before ending Power-play with a pulled six off Maheesh Theekshana. The Delhi skipper hoicked Ravindra Jadeja for six, before taking boundaries off him and Theekshana to reach his fifty in 32 balls, despite losing Yash Dhull, who miscued to backward point off the left-arm spinner.
Axar Patel's great nick with the bat continued by driving off Matheesha Pathirana for four and hitting a straight six down the ground off Jadeja. Warner punched and hoicked Jadeja for four and six, before reverse-sweeping off him for another maximum in the 13th over yielding 23 runs.
Chahar provided the breakthrough by having Axar Patel hole out to long-on. Though Warner and Aman Khan hit a four each off Deshpande, the latter mistimed one to extra cover off Pathirana. Warner finally fell in the 19th over when he holed out to long-on off Pathirana, followed by Theekshana taking two more wickets to add more joy to Chennai's perfect day on the field.
(With inputs from IANS)
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