IPL 2019: Dwayne Bravo decimates Delhi Capitals with clinical show

It was hardly an effort for the visiting Chennai Super Kings' to repeat the domination that Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Co showed two days back. The Men In yellow Chased down a modest target of 148 in Delhi Capitals' own backyard to register a six-wicket win here on Tuesday night.

Having beaten Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers a couple of days back, CSK came up with yet another clinical performance here at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground.

The scorecard may show the game to be a close one, but in reality it was not so.

With eight runs needed in as many deliveries, it was left to the genius of Dhoni. He first hit a six and then, then Dwayne Bravo finished off the game with a horizontal stroke through mid-wicket to cross the target.

Dhoni remained unbeaten on 32, but it was his crucial 48-run fourth wicket partnership with Kedar Jadhav (27 off 34) which was instrumental in scoring second easy win for the visitors.

At 73 for one, CSK were going strong through former Australian skipper Shane Watson's merciless hitting. Watson (44 off 26) was particularly harsh on Amit Mishra, who was hit twice out of the boundary in the seventh over of the chase.

Having already conceded 14 runs (two sixes) in his first four balls, it was the experience of Mishra that came to his rescue. Having seen Watson using his feet to unsettle his length, the Delhi leggie bowled one wide outside off-stump to surprise Watson, who had already taken a long stride ahead to whack it out once more.

Pant was intelligent enough to judge the line and didn't waste a single moment before taking the bails off stumps. Watson's back foot was clearly on the line and it was an easy call for TV umpire to send him back to the pavilion after hitting 44 off 26 deliveries with the help of three sixes and four boundaries.

Pant continued his good work behind the stumps, after some criticism in the recently concluded ODI series against Australia, by taking a smart catch to remove Suresh Raina (30, 16 balls) off Mishra's wrong-un to make it 98 for three in 10.2 overs.

As skipper Dhoni came onto the crease, the match was more or less in CSK's lap with exactly 50 needed in 60 deliveries. It was only a matter of mixing singles with occasional boundaries and Dhoni and Jadhav did it without taking any risks.

Earlier, Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan celebrated his homecoming by scoring a 45-ball half-century to guide his team reach 147 for six on a two-paced wicket. His 51, along with Prithvi Shaw's 24 off 16 deliveries, set the initial pace for the hosts. But it was fine comeback by visitors to restrict Delhi for a modest total.

Much of the blame should go to skipper Shreyas Iyer for not carrying on the momentum from the openers. He struggled throughout his 18 off 20 balls before being trapped by leggie Imran Tahir off his quick slider.

However, the brakes were applied by Trinidadian all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who conceded 17 runs in his first over, by removing first in-form Rishabh Pant (25 off 13) and then Colin Ingram (2) in the 16th over of the innings. Both batsmen made the mistake of not reading his slower deliveries. In fact, Pant played an absolute blinder by flicking on to deep mid-wicket after being well set for yet another score.

With West Indian Keemo Paul was bowled for a duck by Ravindra Jadeja, the hosts lost hope of going past 175 total which was certainly looking a reality till 15th over. Delhi batsmen managed to cross boundary only twice in last two overs. Though, Bravo finished with three for 33 from his quota of four overs but it was Jadeja who impressed the most with his economical spell of one for 23.