IPL 2018, DD vs CSK: 4 Reasons why Chennai lost against Delhi

It was “David vs Goliath” in the IPL today as the bottom-placed Delhi Daredevils took on the Chennai Super Kings at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi. MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field first.

Batting first, Delhi got off to a reasonable start as Rishabh Pant continued his rich vein of form. However, a flurry of wickets in the middle overs pegged things back a little. It was only due to some brilliant hitting by Harshal Patel that Delhi got to a respectable score of 162 runs.

In reply, Chennai began slowly as the openers struggled to get used to the pace of the pitch. Ambati Rayadu smashed 22 runs off Avesh Khan in the 6th over to get Chennai’s innings going.

But a slowdown in the middle overs due to some excellent bowling by Delhi’s spinners got Delhi into the driver’s seat. In the end, in what turned out to be the biggest upset of this year’s IPL, Delhi defeated Chennai by a big margin of 34 runs. Let us have a look at why Chennai lost the contest so badly.

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#1 Leg spinners have a field day

Delhi went into the match with 2 wrist spinners and the move paid off as both Amit Mishra and Sandeep Lamichhane had an excellent day with the ball. Both of them made very good use of the spin that the pitch offered and did not allow Chennai’s batsmen to get going.

The duo showed remarkable control, not giving any freebies to the opposition. Mishra got the big fish Watson in his very first over while Sandeep got the crucial wicket of Suresh Raina at a very critical stage of the game. The duo conceded just 41 runs of their combined 8 overs and picked up 3 wickets between themselves. It turned out to be the difference at the end.

#2 Dwayne Bravo’s struggles at the death

Dwayne Bravo has been one of the best bowlers in the history of IPL. Over the years, batsmen have struggled to pick his off-cutters. He also possesses a very lethal yorker at the death.

However, this season Bravo has struggled for control and has leaked runs at the fag end of the innings. Today as well, Bravo could not execute his yorkers well and was made to pay by Harshal Patel. His last over went for a massive 26 runs which included 4 huge sixes. It turned out to be huge in the context of the game as Delhi posted a competitive score on a slowing pitch.

#3 Patel-Shankar partnership

The Delhi Daredevils were sitting pretty at a score of 77/1 after the first 10 overs. With 9 wickets in hand, Delhi looked set to score in excess of 180 but they lost their way in the middle overs as wickets fell at regular intervals.

Delhi went from 77/1 to 97/5. It was at that time that Delhi got two unlikely heroes in the form of Harshal Patel and Vijay Shankar. The duo added 65 runs off just 32 balls. Patel, in particular, was very impressive as he smacked 36 runs off 16 balls. He plundered 3 sixes in the last over of the innings to take Delhi to an above par score.

#4 Dhoni’s off day

MS Dhoni has been in the form of his life in this year’s IPL. He has displayed some vintage hitting at the death during this season. However, Dhoni was made to struggle by Delhi’s bowlers on a slowing pitch.

When Dhoni came to the crease, Chennai required a very gettable 93 runs off the last 10 overs. However, Dhoni struggled to get going as Delhi’s leg-spinners exercised total control. In the end, Dhoni could only manage to score 17 runs of the 23 balls he faced before depositing a low full toss into the hands of Shreyas Iyer.

Chennai’s fans must be hoping it was just an off day and that Dhoni would return to his usual best in the next game against Punjab.

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