The new kid on the block tussling against the seasoned veteran, the very same player that he has been looking up to set up the perfect platform for a riveting contest. Rishabh Pant captained his side to a decisive win following a clinical chase orchestrated by Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw.
Rishabh Pant, the newly elected captain of the Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Wankhede. Missing out on regular starters such as Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel. Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, the side banked on their bench strength to form their playing eleven. Auction purchases Tom Curran and Chris Woakes were handed their debuts for the clash. CSK, on the other hand, welcomed back Suresh Raina into the setup and awarded Moeen Ali his debut.
The new CSK opening pair were carved apart by the new ball opening duo of Chris Woakes (2-18) and Avesh Khan (2-23). Leading the run charts last season for the team, Faf du Plessis was dismissed for a duck while Rurturaj Gaikwad (5) edged one to Dhawan in the slips.
After the early swing and movement were dealt with, CSK cranked up the pace. Moeen Ali (36) attacked the spinners and counter attacked in supreme fashion. The English all-rounder kept his assault running with twin sixes of Ashwin, who followed it up with a wicket.
Given the depth of the CSK batting line-up, the incoming batsmen went at it hard right from the start. Ashwin (1-47) bore the brunt of it with a disappointing spell which constituted 4 sixes. DC failed to put a stopper to the flowing runs as CSK proceeded to register over 100 runs in the middle overs.
Raina (54) marked his return into the side by scoring a flamboyant fifty. Looking in sheer rhythm, the southpaw’s innings was brought to an end following an unfortunate run out with Jadeja at the other end.
The plot seemed to slip for the Yellow Army on account of the wickets of Raina and Dhoni (0). However, Sam Curran (34) stepped up to the task and continued his rich vein of form to score a blistering cameo and steer CSK to 188-7.
DC openers got the franchise off to a flier, taking the CSK bowling unit apart from the very first over. Coming off an impressive Vijay Hazare campaign, Prithvi Shaw (72) settled in with ease much like his partner at the other end, Shikhar Dhawan.
The duo set up a flawless partnership and plotted the chase with precision which was only marred by a few chances which were dropped by the opposition. Dwayne Bravo finally delivered the breakthrough with the wicket of Shaw.
Promoting himself up the order to finish off the proceedings in a quick fashion, Rishabh Pant surprisingly played second fiddle to Shikhar Dhawan, who went with his momentum to end up with 85 to his name. DC crossed the line in the penultimate over.
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