Hello and Welcome to our live coverage of Game no. 8 of the Pepsi IPL
Delhi Daredevils will take on Chennai Super Kings in the league match today in Abu Dhabi
The Chennai Super Kings bowling is a matter of great concern except for Ashish Nehra. In the game against Kings XI Punjab, all other bowlers conceded over 10 runs an over.
Samuel Badree should ideally get a spot in the side as a result, but who sits out for him is a matter of debate. Chennai is likely to drop either Faf du Plessis or Dwayne Bravo for Badree, which means that they will be one batsman short.
Delhi Daredevils were rescued by JP Duminy the other night, but they will again hope that Kevin Pietersen is fit for the game. The Delhi bowlers did a good job early against KKR, and they will be hoping for a similar performance in this game.
Chennai Super Kings have won the toss and will bat first.
No Pietersen for Delhi yet, and Dwayne Bravo will be out for several weeks following his fall while fielding the other day.
The Teams-
Chennai: B. McCullum, D. Smith, S. Raina, F. Du Plesis, M.S. Dhoni (c/wk), M. Manas, R. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, M. Sharma, B. Hilfenhaus, I. Pandey
Delhi: M. Agarwal, M. Vijay, D. Kathik (c/wk), J.P. Duminy, R. Taylor, M. Tiwari, J. Neesham, S. Nadeem, N. Couler-nile, M. Shami, J. Unadkat
CSK have made 3 changes- Bravo, Nehra and Negi miss out, replacing them are Hilfenhaus, Manas and I. Pandey
Delhi are unchanged, still no Kevin Pieterson
Bad news for CSK as D. Bravo could miss 4-5 weeks of IPL after sustaining a shoulder injury in the previous game.
Head to Head- 12 games, CSK won 8 and Delhi won 4
Smith and McCullum will open the proceeding while Duminy has been give the first over, so one more time we see teams operating spinners in the very first over
PLAY !
Duminy to Smith, starts off with a wide down the leg side
McCullum has played 178 T-20 matches and scored more than 5,000 runs while Smith has played 177 games and scored around 3800 runs. Numbers speak for itself that who is the most dangerous among the two.
Shami comes on to bowl
FOUR, first ball from the fast bowler, length delivery and Smith pulls it along the ground towards the mid-wicket boundary
Shout for LBW, not given, ball straigthens up and hits the pad, may be would have a little high. Better length from Shami
FOUR, fullish and outside off, Smith has to reach for this one, times this one to the cover and ball speeds away to boundary
CSK 14/0 (2)
Chnage in the bowling, slow left arm, Shahbaz Nadeem comes to bowl
FOUR, tossed up, invites McCullum to drive, he dances down the track and chips it over mid-off
Both the openers have relatively been quiet till now.
Delhi is changing the bowler in every over, no one is continuing his spell, now comes Unadkat. Plan from Delhi of not letting the batsmen settle for any bowler is working till now
DROPPED, Duminy drops a sitter at short-cover, so catch dropping menace still continues in this IPL.
OUT, McCullum couldn't capitalize on his dropped catch, he dances down the track, and gets and outside edge, ball flies towards third man and this time the catch is taken.
Duminy must be happy now.
Raina comes
Excellent over from Unadkat just two runs and a wicket
CSK 25/1 (4)
Shami comes back to the attack, Dinesh Karthik is smartly rotating his bowlers.
Well, McCullum looked a bit edgy from the start, a close shout, inside edge, dancing down the pitch, then a catch drop. He was offering his wicket and Delhi managed to do it so
CSK have won 61% of their matches while batting first, while they have won 65% of the games chasing, average almost the same (Since 2011 IPL)
Another excellent over from Shami, just 5 runs of it, Runs are being squeezed up by the Delhi bowlers.
Unadkat to continue from his end
This is basic stuff from Unadkat, just keeping it straight on good lenght, cramping the batsman for room
Another good over comes to an end.
So after 6 overs CSK 34/1
Fielding restrictions are over
Jimmy Neesham comes to bowl his medium pace, where is Coulter-Nile, still no sign of him.
FOUR, this is raina's zone, full pitched outside off, he drives uppishly over the cover fielder
Couler-Nile went off the field after sliding to stop the ball
CSK 43/1 (7)
Another bowling change, Duminy comes back and gives away only 3 runs, its amazing how Delhi is keeping a check on Chennai. Only four boundaries have been hit so far.
The scoring rate is just under 6 runs per over, not an ideal T-20 score.
Strategic Time Out
CSK 46/1 (8)
FOUR, short and slow from Neesham, Smith reads him and dispatches it over the mid-wicket boundary, one bounce for four. 50 up for Chennai
Raina averages 32 in IPL against all the teams, but his average dips down to 24 agaisnt Delhi. Can he improve on his average (Since 2011 IPL)
FOUR, on to the leg stump from Duminy, Raina sits and sweeps towards the vacant area at fine leg
CSK 66/1 (10)
Hal-way thorung the innings, CSK have struggled for runs, good bowling from Delhi.
Last 10 overs to go, feels like Cehnnai will up-the ante now
SIX, finally it comes, first six of the innings, tossed up, Raina charges down and hits straight over the bowler's head, as clean as you like.
50 runs stand comes between Smith and Raina, They should go from here now
BOWLED, Knocked him over ! Commentator curse , arm ball from round the wicket, wrong shot selection from Smith, he misses and ball crashed onto the stumps
Du-Plesis is the new batsman
M. Vijay comes to bowl, he is filling up here for Coulter-Nile, CSK can have a go on this non-regualr spinner
FOUR, short and wide outside off, Raina hs ample of time to hit towards the deep point
FOUR, Two in a Row! flighted outside off, Raina punches it over the covers
FOUR, another boundary, poor bowling from a part-timer, down the leg side and Raina easily sweeps it for four
Raina completes his half-century
Chennai reaches a score of 100 runs, this has been more like a struggle for them unlike in last match
CSK 103/2 (14)
Nadeem, Shami and Unadkat, each of them have two overs left
For CSK next to come in are - Dhoni, Manas and Jadeja
From here if they go at about 10 runs per over, they will reach 160 runs, which will be a good total on this pitch
FOUR, full and wide from Neesham, Faf shuffles and caresses it towards the cover boundary. Delightful
OUT, Raina looking to clear the long-off boundary, but didn't get the elevation right and holes out to Vijay. Raina gone for 56
In comes the skipper MSD
Neesham completes his spell 4-0-29-1
CSK 113/3 (15) DuPlesis 11*, DHoni 2*
5 overs to go, how much can Chennai score?
Nadeem comes to the attack
Good stuff from Nadeem, the ball is sliding giving batsman no chance to score
Nadeem's economy rate against Left-Handers 9.02 against Right-Handers 6.33
Both the batsmen on crease are right handers
Unadkat comes back, he has bowled 2 overs gave 5 runs and picked up a wicket
Now what can he offer here to his captain, certainly Karthik could be demanding same quality from him.
But CSK have the two most destructive batsmen on the crease, this is gonna be an interesting battle
Dhoni tries to flick, doesn't get any bat, 1 run.
SIX, INTO THE ORBIT ! That's slammed from the CSK captain, he cam down the track and hammered it over the covers.
FOUR, this time fuller from Unadkat just outside off-stump, Dhoni powerfully drives towards the cover.
Last two balls spoiled a god over. Disappointment for Unadkat
CSK 135/3 (17) Dhoni 18*- DuPlesis 18*
SIX, DuPlesis Joins the Party ! Short ball from Shami, DuPlesis rocks back and clubbed it over deep midwicket
OUT, Good Comeback ! Plesis try to smack it, get's the elevation but doesn't get any distance, Vijay takes another skier at long-on
SIR JADEJA COMES !
SIX, not good stuff, after taking a wicket, you don't expect this from a bowler, short and on off- Dhoni with his power hits towards deep point
150 up for CSK
FOUR, full and staright towards the baller, lucky for Unadkat to get out of the way, that went like a tracer bullet.
OUT, Slower and shorter one from Unadkat. Dhoni pulls it but straight to deep square leg.
SIX, SIR STRIKES ! Fuller outside off, Jadeja picks it up and slams over the long on
OUT, slower bouncer does the trick here, Jadeja tries to pull gets glove and straight to wicket keeper
Last over coming up
Shami to bowl
FOUR, Short and wide, Manhas tries to slash hard, gets outside edge and ball races away for four
RUN-OUT- Ashwin departs
FOUR, Manhas makes room and caves the ball towards point to finish off the innings in style
Excellent batting from CSK to put on a good score, last 5 overs they scored 64 runs, after a dull start from CSK, Raina achored the innings, and then contributions from Dhoni and Du Plesis help Chennai reach a fighting total.
Delhi were excellent with the ball especially inside first 10 overs where they cramped CSK for runs, unfortunate injury to Coulter-Nile cut short thier one-bowling option, Unadkat was the pcik of the bowlers 4-0-32-3
Delhi chased well the last time, will they chase this one also, stay tuned
Murali Vijay and Mayank Agarwal begins the chase, Ishwar Pandey to bowl the first over for CSK
FOUR, carved over the pouint boundary for four
Batting first win for Delhi 26% - Batting second win for Delhi 48% (Since 2011 IPL) So Delhi is better of chasing the target than defending
Hilfenhaus wll share the new ball
Good bowling, keeps it around off on good length, just 2 runs from this over
So CSK going with the tradtional start, fast bolwers operating with the new ball
OUT, great catch from Raina, Agarwal wanted to play inside-out, doesn't get onto the mid of the bat, he plays towards cover where Raina dives to take a catch
First blow for Delhi
Captain Karthik comes in
Delhi 11/1 (3) Vijay 7*- Karthik 2*
FOUR, puitched up on off-stump from Mohit Sharma, Vijay shuffles and flicks towards the square leg boundary. Wristy shot
OUT, THAT IS A STUNNER ! Du Plesis take a great catch to dismiss Vijay, who looks to heave the ball towards the straight boundary gets leading edge, Plesis run backwards and hold onto a great catch at mid-off. Not the easiest one while running backwards, but he judges it perfectly
OUT, Ishwar Pandey strikes again and Du Plesis takes another blinder. Tiwari looks to attack and charges down, ball goes up over the in-field, but Plesis ran backwards and mid-off and takes another master piece.
CATCHES WIN MATCHES !
Till now we have been discussing about the dropped catches in IPL , Du Plesis have changed the discourse now
Delhi in big big trouble
On the crease arrives match-winner J.P. Duminy to help his captain and Delhi from an early stutter
Credits to CSK bowlers for keeping the pressure on Delhi by bowling on good length and not giving runs, it mounted pressure on batsmen who lost cool and played rash shots, and without missing, great support from fielding unit
Delhi 24/3 (6) JP 4*- DK 7*
FOUR, DK comes down the track and flashes hard, cuts the ball towards backward point for a boundary.
Duminy strike-rate against Pace- 138% against Spin- 112% (Since 2011 IPL)
JP prefers pace more than spin
Ishwar Pandey has completed his spell 4-0-23-2, he has provided the figures that was eactly demanded by his captain
Mohit Sharma completes his third over, given 17 runs and picked up 1 wicket.
CSK pacers have done the job here, excellent start for them
Delhi 42/3 (8) DK 14*- JP 15*
OUT, BIG BLOW ! another one bites the dust, Dwayne Smith picks up the wicket in his first ball, bowls on a good length, bowl nips back in and JP trapped in front.
Delhi is losing too many quick wickets
Ross taylor is the new batsman
Strategic Time out
We are into the ninth over and we haven't seen any spin, no Ashwin and yet the Delhi have faltered badly, this is excellent cricket from the CSK
No CSK bowler has an economy over 6 rpo in this innings. A big thing in T-20
FOUR, Hilfenhaus sways towards leg side, full toss on pads and Taylor glances towards fine leg
OUT, away swinger gets him, ball lands on middle and swings away, Taylor tempted into the shot gets a thick outside edge, MSD takes it easily.
Delhi reach 50 and half of the team is in pavillion
Delhi 53/5 (10) DK 15*- Neesham 3*
Suresh Raina is the Man of the Match
Final Score- Chennai Super Kings (177/7- Raina 56- Unadkat 32/3) beat Delhi Daredevils (84 all out - Neesham 22- Ashwin 3/2) by 93 runs
Thank you for joining me, this is Uzair Hasan Rizvi, Have a Good-Night ..