Visakhapatnam: The Chennai Super Kings set up a date with the Mumbai Indians in the VIVO IPL 2019 Final after they defeated the Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 2 on Friday night. In a match that was billed as experience against youth, it was experience which prevailed. After electing to bowl, the Super Kings kept picking up wickets at regular intervals, never let the Delhi Capitals off the hook and restricted them to 147-9. The Super Kings’ chase was powered by their two openers – Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson, who scored half-centuries individually and added 81 runs in each other’s company. After they were dismissed, Suresh Raina (11), Ambati Rayudu (19 not out) and MS Dhoni (9) chipped in to take their team closer. CSK got over the line off the last ball of the 19th over when Dwayne Bravo collected four leg byes off Ishant Sharma; the Super Kings won by 6 wickets with one over remaining.
The Chennai Super Kings openers took turns to demolish the Delhi Capitals bowlers. du Plessis set the tone early on; he scored a 37-ball half-century and dominated the opening stand.
After he was dismissed, Watson – who was almost a spectator in the opening stand – exploded; after contributing just 26 from 23 balls to the opening stand, he scored 24 off the next 7 balls. By the time both openers were dismissed, the required run rate had dropped to 5.08; there was only going to be one winner thereafter.
The Capitals had an opportunity to strike early in CSK’s innings; in the very first over, they had both openers stranded mid-pitch, but missed the run out opportunity on two occasions. The four wickets they took later in the innings were shared by Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel and Amit Mishra.
In the evening, Delhi Capitals never got going in their innings. The only two periods they had momentum were right at the start and right at the end; the openers added 20 runs in the first two overs, and then at the back end, the last two overs produced 28 runs. In between, it was pretty quiet; not one of their batsmen got into that overdrive mode.
Rishabh Pant applied himself well and set himself for the end overs assault. But justwhen the time had arrived for him to tee off, he was dismissed in the nineteenth over; Pant hit two boundaries and a six in his 25-ball 38.The only other batsman who made a significant contribution to the Capitals’ total was Colin Munro, who made 27 from 24 balls batting at number three.
That the highest partnership of the Delhi Capitals innings was only 22 illustrates their poor effort with the bat.
For the Super Kings, barring Shardul Thakur – who was brought int the XI at the expense of Murali Vijay, the remaining five bowlers shared the spoils. The three spinners returned combined figures of 11-0-72-5, while Deepak Chahar and Dwayne Bravo picked up two wickets each.
Standout Batting Performance
Faf du Plessis (50 off 39 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) and Shane Watson (50 from 32 balls, 3 fours, 4 six) were brutal in the run chase.
du Plessis was quick to pounce on the slightest error; when the bowler landed short, he was quick to rock back and pull, and when there was width offered, he pierced the gap on the off-side with the cut shot. du Plessis had made 37 out of CSK’s score of 42 in the powerplay, and added 13 more runs before being dismissed in the eleventh over; his innings contained seven boundaries and a six.
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