It was deja vu for Daredevils as Chennai Super Kings thrashed them for the second time in the seventh edition of IPL. While they had beaten the Daredevils by 93 runs during the UAE leg, the Dhoni-led outfit on Monday thrashed the Delhi team by 8 wickets
Dwayne Smith
Delhi: It was deja vu for Daredevils as Chennai Super Kings thrashed them for the second time in the seventh edition of IPL. While they had beaten the Daredevils by 93 runs during the UAE leg, the MS Dhoni-led outfit on Monday thrashed Kevin Pietersen's team by 8 wickets
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Dwayne Smith cracked a blistering 79 as a dominant Chennai steamrolled Delhi for their sixth straight win in the Indian Premier League.
Chasing a competitive 179-run target, CSK overhauled the target with two balls to spare as the West Indies batsman led the chase with his 51-ball knock that was embellished with eight sixes and four hits to the fence.
Dwayne Smith laid the foundation for CSK's win with a well-constructed 79 off 51 balls against DD.
Such was Smith's domination that he plundered boundaries at will and spared no DD bowler during his entertaining knock.
He departed in the 19th over when his side needed 11 runs off 8 balls and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni ensured that there was no twist in the script keeping his reputation as a fantastic finisher intact.
Dhoni hit the lacklustre Jaydev Unadkat for a six in the second ball and followed it up with a couple and a boundary through extra cover to yet again score the winning runs for his side.
Brendon McCullum (32) and Suresh Raina (47 not out off 26) too contributed in CSK's win, supporting the rampaging West Indian well.
Light shower made it a pleasant evening for the fans but for Daredevils it continues to be gloomy affair as it became difficult to grip the wet ball.
With this win, CSK have strengthened their position at the top while Delhi will now find it extremely difficult to go beyond the first stage of the tournament.
Earlier, Dinesh Karthik led a collective batting effort with a fighting 51 as Delhi Daredevils scored a competitive 178 for five against Chennai Super Kings.
It was one of the better pitches seen at Kotla in recent times, making it possible to have a good contest between ball and bat.
Initially it helped pacers while gradually stroke-making became easier.
Karthik combined well with Murali Vijay (35) for a splendid 71-run partnership for the third wicket after a shaky start.
JP Duminy (28 no) and Kedar Jadhav (29 no) provided superb finishing touches with their fiery cameos as DD put on their best total of the season on board after being put into bat.
Duminy blasted paceman Mohit Sharma for four boundaries in a row in the 18th over while Jadhav finished the innings with a flourish by hitting the same bowler for two sixes and a four in the final over.
Dinesh Karthik of Delhi Daredevils plays a reverse shot as CSK's captian wicket-keeper M S Dhoni looks on during their IPL tie at Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi on Monday.
The two batsmen raised an unbeaten 58-run stand in only 5.4 overs.
The DD openers took some time to settle as the ball was seaming a bit initially but after getting their eye in, they cut loose.
Young paceman Ishwar Pandey bowled a rare maiden over but he was taken to task in his next by Quinton de Kock, who hit him for two sixes after Vijay struck a magnificent straight boundary.
The South African southpaw needlessly ran himself out while attempting a third run.
Skipper Kevin Pietersen failed to come out of his lean patch as he was dismissed for a golden duck. The England batsman failed to read the line of a Mohit delivery and found his stumps shattered in the process.
Despite losing two quick wickets, Daredevils maintained a decent run rate, if not great.
Karthik creamed off a six and four off Ravindra Jadeja to take 13 runs in the ninth over and one of Vijay's shots rocketed to the cover boundary as the hosts reached 75 for 2 at half-way stage.
The Tamil Nadu batsmen continued the same way against pacemen as he hammered a full toss from Mohit Sharma to mid-wicket six after hitting a straight boundary off the same bowler.
Karthik completed his 50 with a majestic cover drive. This was after he had lofted the Australian paceman with a well-calculated paddle for a six.
However, his brilliant innings was a cut short when Mohit plucked one inches off the ground in the last ball of that over.
Vijay, from the other end, kept scoring at a brisk pace. His switch-hit off Ashwin was a treat to watch.
The hosts though lost him too when he failed to connect off Jadeja while attempting a straight shot.
Two set batsmen were back in the dug out and it did affect DD's run scoring.
They also lost Laxmi Ratan Shukla (0) trying an ugly looking hoick.
But Duminy brought respectability to the total with his fiery knock towards the end. He blasted Mohit for four consecutive bolundaries to reel of 17 runs from the 18th over.
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