Target follow: Delhi cost previous Chennai

Suresh Raina’s 36-ball 54 advised he and Chennai Super Kings had been again after a forgettable version. A flurry of wickets fell, together with that of MS Dhoni for a duck, to lift doubts however Sam Curran’s cameo propelled them to 188. However, Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw blasted 138 runs in simply over 13 overs to make it a cakewalk for Delhi Capitals.
Much-awaited return
“Vandhachunu sollu! (Tell them I have arrived!”) On April 4, clad within the yellow Chennai Super Kings jersey, Suresh Raina posted that well-liked Tamil zinger from a Rajini film. At the final IPL, the place he left the CSK camp in Dubai earlier than the event began, he needed to make clear rumours concerning the causes for his departure. There was additionally hypothesis that he may not be retained this yr. In his comeback sport on Saturday, he confirmed why he is among the all-time greats in T20 with a usually aggressive knock.

RAIsing our #Yellove heartbeats! The return of the Chinna Thala! #WhistlePodu #Yellove #CSKvDC 🦁💛 pic.twitter.com/e2eE6Z3k3d
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 10, 2021
Delhi Capitals most likely performed to his strengths by having the spinners on towards him. They might have had Chris Woakes keep it up, who was swinging the brand new ball and picked a  wicket. In reality Woakes didn’t end his full quota.
The absence of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje this yr have weakened Delhi’s tempo assault and Raina jumped out on the spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra.
He creamed Ashwin inside-out by covers but it surely was the subsequent ball that confirmed he was in good contact.
To nobody’s shock, he charged out however Ashwin additionally dragged again the size fairly nicely. Raina adjusted to muscle it on the up in the direction of extensive long-on as he has carried out so many occasions previously.
With each Raina and Moeen Ali going after him, Ashwin, who is usually excellent towards left-handers, misplaced his lengths. Mishra tried to fluctuate his googlies however each the outside-off and the outside-leg variations ricocheted off empty seats at Wankhede. Raina was set for extra however was run out as his accomplice Ravindra Jadeja bumped into the bowler Avesh Khan when he turned for the second run and needed to abort it. Raina had gone too far down the monitor to make his return in time however by then he had carried out sufficient to validate his Rajini-ism.
Dhawan-Shaw present
Last yr Shaw was dragged again by three issues: the again raise (he would take the bat too distant from the physique and needed to drag it again). Then he would go too arduous on the ball relatively than use his sweetly-timed punches. Another concern was him being a bit too legside of the ball and resultantly reaching out for deliveries. He had already proven within the Vijay Hazare event, that preceded the IPL, that he had sorted out these errors. He picks up the bat lots straighter now, didn’t go too arduous on the ball and moved into the road of the ball extra easily. It wasn’t a shock, then, to see him cream all of the CSK seamers, who it should be mentioned didn’t swing the ball as a lot beneath lights.

138 off simply 81 🔥
Gabbar aur Prithvi ne toh dil khush kar diya bhai 💙#YehHaiNayiDilli #IPL2021 #CSKvDC pic.twitter.com/K906LMC35A
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) April 10, 2021
Ever for the reason that final IPL, Dhawan has been in nice type and got here up with a usually in-control-knock.
Even when he reeled off the boundaries, as he did on this sport, he hardly ever ever flexed his muscle groups or threw his bat round. As ever, he labored the angles, sustaining his form and moving into positions from the place he focussed on timing his pictures. Even a sweep that he performed towards seamers – a shot that he has more and more performed in current occasions — was all about moving into place and wafting the bat ever so sweetly.
Or think about the straight-six he hit off Sam Curran within the fourth over of the chase. It was full and within the slot, however Dhawan didn’t biff it. He didn’t even do the complete follow-through, as an alternative ensured he made contact with the complete bat-face and bought the timing proper.
He can be a batsman who likes to maneuver round lots, however in a purposeful method in line with the areas he’s concentrating on. In the eleventh over, he backed away from the stumps to crash a full supply from Shardul Thakur by the covers.
In the subsequent ball he confronted, the second ball within the subsequent over, he moved the opposite option to outside-off to pull a Dwayne Bravo supply to the backward square-leg boundary. Later he unfurled his kneel-down-and-slap-dash pictures off Chahar and Bravo.Brief Scores: Chennai Super Kings 188/7 (Suresh Raina 54, 36b, 3×4, 4×6; Moeen Ali 36, 24b, 4×4, 2×6; Sam Curran 34, 15b, 4×4, 2×6; Chris Woakes 2/18, 11 dots; Avesh Khan 2/23, 11 dots) misplaced to Delhi Capitals 190/3 in 18.4 ovs (Prithvi Shaw 72, 38b, 9×4, 3×6; Shikhar Dhawan 85, 54b, 10×4, 2×6; Shardul Thakur 2/53, 6 dots)