Chennai thump Delhi by 93 runs to register first win

Chennai Super Kings produced a clinical performance to crush Delhi Daredevils by 93 runs and register their first win in the seventh edition of Indian Premier League on Monday.
Chennai first rode on Suresh Raina’s fine half-century and then a late burst from skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to post a competitive 177 and then came up with a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to bundle out the Daredevils for a paltry 84 in 15.4 overs.
Raina made 56 off 41 balls, during which he struck five boundaries and one six. He shared 54 runs off 46 balls for the second wicket with Dwayne Smith to lay the foundation for the total.
Towards the end, skipper Dhoni used his long handle to great effect to race his way to 32 off just 15 balls with the help of two fours and as many sixes. Faf du Plesis also made a useful 24 off 17 balls.
Chasing the target, the Daredevils witnessed a nightmarish start as they lost half of their side with just 50 runs on the board inside 10 overs. Delhi’s chase never really got going at they lost wickets at regular intervals to reel for major part of their innings.
Young Ishwar Pandey delivered the first blow for Chennai in only his second over by removing Mayank Agarwal, who was brilliantly caught by Raina at cover. Murali Vijay (11) and Manoj Tiwary (0) too did not help their side’s cause as they departed in the next two overs.
While du Plesis pulled off a stunner to sent Vijay packing off Mohit Sharma’s bowling, the South African pounced on another skier in Pandey’s next over to remove Tiwary.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik (21) and JP Duminy (15) tried to resurrect the Daredevils’ chase with a 25-run stand for the fourth wicket but it was not to be as wickets continued to tumble like a pack of cards.
Duminy was caught plumb in front of the wicket by Dwayne Smith off his first ball before Ben Hilfenhaus induced an edge from an out-of-form Ross Taylor which was gleefully accepted by Dhoni.
Karthik was then cleaned up by Ashwin in the 13th over. Jimmy Neesham (21 off 15) tried hard but the asking rate was too tall to achieve as Chennai bowlers ran through Delhi’s tail with ease.
Ashwin (2 for 3), Jadeja (2 for 18) and Pandey (2 for 23) shared six wickets between them.
Earlier, Chennai made a relatively slow start to their innings after electing to bat as they reached their 50-run mark off exactly the same number of balls.
Chennai, however, suffered their first blow in the fourth over when the dangerous Brendon McCullum (9) was dismissed. McCullum failed to latch on to a life provided by Duminy off Jaydev Unadkat’s first delivery and perished in the next ball, caught by Wayne Parnell at short third man.
After McCullum’s dismissal, Raina and Smith played cautiously to build the innings together and helped Chennai make 65 runs for the loss of one wicket at the halfway mark. But Chennai suffered their second blow on the last ball of the 11th over when Smith was cleaned up by Nadeem.
The wicket hardly had any impact on Raina as he smacked Vijay for three fours in the next over. Raina brought up his half-century in the next over off 36 balls with the help of five fours and one six. But soon after, Raina departed in search of quick runs.