Pacer Ashish Nehra snapped up three wickets to lead a disciplined bowling attack as two-time champions Chennai Super Kings defeated Delhi Daredevils by one run in a last-over thriller of the IPL-8 Twenty20 cricket tournament on Thursday.
Needing 19 runs off the last over, Albie Morkel blasted two fours and a six off Dwayne Bravo but Delhi still fell short by one run at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here. Earlier put into bat, Chennai were caught in a spin web and could only manage a modest 150-7, courtesy contributions by Dwayne Smith (34), middle-order batsman Faf du Plessis (32) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (30).
Defending the total, Ashish Nehra produced a fiery spell of fast bowling, dismissing Chidhambaram Gautam (4), Mayank Agarwal (15) and Shreyas Iyer (7) early on to put Delhi on the backfoot. Albie Morkel anchored the runchase with an unbeaten 55-ball 73 but he didn’t get the much-needed support at the other end as Chennai eventually restricted them to 149-9 in their stipulated 20 overs to launch their IPL-8 campaign on a positive note.
Chasing 151, Delhi were left tottering at 39 for three in five overs, thanks to a fiery spell by Nehra, who scalped two wickets -- Chidhambaram Gautam (4) and Mayank Agarwal (15) -- within a space of four balls in the third over to reduce Delhi to 20 for two.
Nehra, who will turn 36 on April 29, then came back to snap up another wicket, getting rid of Shreyas Iyer (7) with Faf du Plessis taking a brilliant catch. Morkel and Kedar Jadhav (20), who were promoted up the order, then guided Delhi to 67-3 at the end of 10 overs.
However, their 48-run stand was broken by Mohit Sharma, who had Jadhav caught by Ashwin at point.
Needing 64 runs off 41 balls, Yuvraj Singh joined Morkel but his much-awaited innings lasted for only six balls as Delhi were looking down the barrel at 99 for 5 at 14.3 overs. Trying to play a hook shot of Bravo, Yuvraj ended up giving an easy catch to Ishwar Pandey.
Skipper Duminy too could not stay longer as he deflected a Pandey delivery ontop his stumps as Delhi slipped further to 106 for 6. Nathan smashed a four before being cleaned up by Ashwin as Morkel was left waging a lonely battle.
“You have to hold on to your nerves,” said Dhoni after Chennai eked out a one-run win over Delhi in a last-over thriller at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here. “I thought the last one was in the slot, and Bravo won’t be happy with the ball he bowled, but it is good to win close games,” he added referring to the last over bowled by Dwayne Bravo which yielded 17 runs.
Nehra is good, at times he is prone to injuries, but he backs himself, which is good for a fast bowler. It is good to see him the way he bowls. He has kept himself fit. He is one Indian pace who bowls pace effortlessly. - Dhoni
With this win, Chennai opened their IPL-8 campaign on a positive note and Dhoni said,
It was important to win because this was our first match here in a long time. Not just for us, but for the crowd, because they appreciate opposition too. A crowd you want to do well in front of.
Ashish Nehra, who was awarded the Man of the Match, said his team should have posted a bigger total. “
The way we started we were definitely 15-20 short,” said Nehra, who returned with figures of 4-0-25-3.
In T20 games every run is important. You can see the score so that run-out was important. A good start. These two points will count in the end. These are the games you want to win.
Losing a match after coming so close, Delhi Daredevils skipper J P Duminy described it as an unbelievable game and said his team will take a lot of positive from their opening tie. “Unbelievable,” said Duminy.
Game of small margins. Proud of the boys. We will take a lot of learning out today. We just kept saying the gameplan is to keep taking wickets. They came hard at us, but we kept taking wickets. Feeling very good. Obviously we would have liked to win, but still a long time to go. A lot of learnings here.
- Duminy
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