High flying Chennai Super Kings on Monday faced bottom of the table Delhi Daredevils at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune in the Indian Premier League.
Chennai Super Kings scored a mammoth 211 runs after some brilliant batting by Watson, Rayudu and MS Dhoni.
Chasing the target, Delhi Daredevils lost quick wickets, but Rishabh Pant and Vijay Shankar's grit and determination took it to the last over. But a brilliant death over by Ngigi saw DD lose the match by 13 runs.
Highlights:
# Shane Watson, Man Of The Match - I wanted to help the team in the previous games but to be able to play this innings against DD is a good confidence builder. I was targeting the short side of the ground and wind was also blowing in that direction. It was good to get few out of the middle.
# MS Dhoni: Back is bad but nothing much can be done. I have not been training much because of it. There is a bit of pain but I think I will manage. It is very important for us to get a good platform and then I can promote myself up the order. Looking at the wicket we thought we needed an overseas batsmen. With Faf opening and Rayudu it gives more stability to the batting order. Rayudu can bat anywhere in the order and he is keen to take any responsibility. Lungi has impressed me right from the South Africa. If he keeps coming good it will be good for us. Eliminators will be at the small ground and we will have to think about our death bowling. Bowlers have to adapt otherwise we will have to look at other options.
# Shreyas Iyer: Too many runs on the board. I would like to complain about the first ball wicket (smiles). It did not go our way and that could have made a massive impact in the match. The way Watson started it totally changed the game. Not only me, the whole dressing room and obviously you also think the same - that ball hit the pad first and then the bat (laughs). We got really close and it is a positive going into the next match. We need to win 6 in the remaining 6 matches and that is the only motivation going forward. We need to point out the mistakes we have done and we will try to bounce back strong. We will be having a meeting with management regarding the team changes. If we try to keep the team stable, we will do well in the upcoming matches.
# Chennai Super Kings won by 13 runs, Shankar's brilliant half-century was not enough for DD.
# 19.2 Overs: SIX! Shankar hits it again. DD 192/5
# 18.6 Overs: SIX! Shankar is on fire. DD 184/5
# 18.4 Overs: SIX! Back to back maximums by Shankar. DD 178/5
# 17.4 Overs: OUT! Pant walks back. Pant c Jadeja b Lungi Ngidi 79(45) DD 162/5
# After 17 Overs DD are 157/4
# 15.6 Overs: SIX! Pant is turning it around. DD 146/4
# 15.5 Overs: FOUR! Pant shuffles and goes down but gets the boundary. DD 140/4
# 15.3 Overs: FOUR! Pant with impeccable placement. DD 134/4
# 14.2 Overs: SIX! Smashed away by Shankar. DD 124/4
# 13.4 Overs: FOUR! Vijay Shankar pulls the ball away. DD 115/4
# 13.2 Overs: SIX! Pant hammered it away. DD 110/4
# 10.6 Overs: SIX! Pulled away by Pant. DD 92/4
# 8.5 Overs: OUT! Bowled 'em! Maxwell b Jadeja 6(5) DD 74/4
# 6.6 Overs: OUT! Iyer goes back after a mix-up. Shreyas Iyer run out (Watson/Dhoni) 13(14) DD 64/3
# 5.2 Overs: FOUR! Back to back boundaries for Pant. DD 56/2
# After 5 Overs, DD are 47/2, they lost Prithvi Shaw early in the 2nd Over and Munro in the 5th over.
# Delhi Daredevils need 212 to win. Dhoni completed his fifty at the last ball.
# 19.5 Overs: OUT! Rayudu is run out, some scenes here. Rayudu run out (Pant/Boult) 41(24) CSK 209/4
# 19.4 Overs: FOUR! MSD steps out and slaps the ball hard for a boundary. CSK 209/3
# 19.3 Overs: SIX! Dhoni is unstoppable. CSK 205/3
# 18.6 Overs: SIX! Out of the park by Dhoni. CSK 198/3
# 17.6 Overs: FOUR! Edged and raced away to the boundary line. CSK 187/3
# 17.5 Overs: SIX! Rayudu steps out and powers it. CSK 183/3
# 17.2 Overs: FOUR! Rayudu shuffles again and gets the boundary. CSK 175/3
# 16.5 Overs: FOUR! Rayudu shuffles and places it perfectly. CSK 170/3
# 16.3 Overs: FOUR! Dhoni is on fire! CSK 165/3
# 16.2 Overs: SIX! another flat biggie by MSD. CSK 161/3
# 16.1 Overs: SIX! Thumped away by MS. CSK 155/3
# 15.5 Overs: SIX! Flat hit by Dhoni. CSK 148/3
# 13.5 Overs: OUT! Watson goes.. Watson c Plunkett b Mishra 78(40) CSK 130/3
# 13.1 Overs: FOUR! Swept away by Rayudu. CSK 127/2
# 12.5 Overs: FOUR! Watson cuts it towards backward point! CSK 118/2
# 12.3 Overs: FOUR! Rayudu steps out and smashes the ball. CSK 112/2
# 11.1 Overs: OUT! You miss I hit stuff by Maxwell. Raina completely missed it. Raina b Maxwell 1(2) CSK 103/2
# 10.5 Overs: OUT! Finally a breakthrough for DD. du Plessis c Boult b Vijay Shankar 33(33) CSK 102/1
# 10.2 Overs: Watson is OUT but the ball is called no ball for being a beamer. He survives AGAIN!
# 8.3 Overs: SIX! OMG this is huge! CSK 90/0
# Watson has now completed his half-century.
# 8.1 Overs: SIX! Watson connects with the slog sweep. CSK 82/0
# 6.4 Overs: SIX! Watson is destroying Plunkett here. CSK 70/0
# 6.3 Overs: SIX! Brutal hitting by Watson. CSK 64/0
# 5.6 Overs: FOUR! du Plessis just manages to put it towards fine leg. CSK 56/0
# 5.2 Overs: SIX! Hiiiighhhh and clears the rope. CSK 51/0
# 4.6 Overs: SIX! du Plessis joins the party. CSK 45/0
# 4.4 Overs: SIX! Back to back sixes by Watson!! CSK 38/0
# 3.5 Overs: FOUR! Watson goes inside out and connects perfectly. CSK 24/0
# 2.4 Overs: FOUR! Watson is a delight to watch when he is in good touch. CSK 16/0
# 2.1 Overs: FOUR! Smacked away by du Plessis. CSK 11/0
# 0.2 Overs: FOUR! Flicked away in style by Watson. CSK 4/0
# Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Faf du Plessis, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, Lungi Ngidi, KM Asif
# Delhi Daredevils (Playing XI): Prithvi Shaw, Colin Munro, Shreyas Iyer(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Glenn Maxwell, Vijay Shankar, Rahul Tewatia, Liam Plunkett, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan, Trent Boult
# Delhi win toss, opt to field
Interesting face-off: Raina vs DD: Raina has struggled against DD scoring only 491 runs at 28.88 with just two fifties from 20 innings.