IPL 2019: Match 5 – DC vs CSK – Who Said What

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have made a blistering start to this edition’s Indian Premier League (IPL) with consecutive triumphs. After beating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, CSK comfortably got past Delhi Capitals (DC) as well, winning the encounter by six wickets. With the victory, the Men in Yellow, led by MS Dhoni, also moved to the top of the points table.

Dhawan plays a decent knock

The Kings won the toss and elected to bowl first and the decision worked out well as the hosts were restricted to 147 for six in 20 overs. Prithvi Shaw threw his willow and scored 24 runs from 16 balls. Shreyas Iyer couldn’t quite gauge the conditions and perished after scoring 18 runs at less than a run-a-ball. Rishabh Pant didn’t die wondering a scored a quick-fire 25 runs from 13 deliveries.

At the other end, Dhawan didn’t take any uncalculated risk and got his half-century and ended his knock on 51 runs from 47 balls with seven boundaries. He was there until the 18th over when he was dismissed by Dwayne Bravo. The former Windies cricketer also got rid of Colin Ingram and the dangerous Pant. Imran Tahir, Ravindra Jadeja, and Deepak Chahar picked one wicket each.

CSK romp home comfortably  

Shane Watson trod the attacking route to start the visitors’ run-chase. Ishant Sharma gave the hosts their first breakthrough, dismissing Ambati Rayudu for five. However, Watson and Suresh Raina played some breathtaking strokes and put on 52 runs from 24 balls to put the CSK on the driver’s seat. Amit Mishra separated the duo, getting rid of Watson, who raced off to 44 runs from 26 balls.

Raina notched 30 runs off 16 balls to set CSK the platform for the chase. After his dismissal, the Super Kings slowed down a wee bit, but they didn’t allow matters to get out of hand. The likes of MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav put their heads down and took CSK to the cusp of victory. Kagiso Rabada nipped out Jadhav in the last over and Dhoni stayed until the end to see his team through to glory.

Shane Watson, the Player of the Match, said

It was a little better than Chennai, the wicket. It was a bit slow, so it was nice to get a few out of the middle. I don’t think I will bowl much. I got a calf injury leading up to the Big Bash. So I’m just trying to fit enough for my batting. The PSL was a lot of fun, and great to be able to reconnect with the Chennai guys again so it’s great to be here again.

MS Dhoni, the CSK captain, said

The wicket turned more than expected in the first innings. In the second innings there was enough dew to make it slightly better for the batsmen. The bowlers did a very good job to restrict them to 150. The batsmen we have like a bit of pace, and like it to come onto the bat. We look a slightly better side when that happens. We were unsure about the Chennai wicket. Losing Ngidi at the start was a big blow, because he was the quickest, but other than that we were well-covered in all the areas.

I don’t think we will be a very good fielding side, but we can be a safe fielding side – we need to work on that. As a captain, you don’t want the XI to push too hard and get injured. We might bleed a few runs and make up for that with experience. We haven’t seen a lot of death in the last couple of games and the fast bowlers, so plenty of areas to work on, but still a good victory for us.

Shreyas Iyer, the DC captain, said

For the new batsman, pitch was really tough. I usually don’t have trouble starting against spinners but today it was turning and holding up. Our best batter Rishabh Pant also found it tough. The wicket was slow and that’s why I decided to bat first. We were 10-15 runs short. I wouldn’t blame the batting. We could have restricted them in the powerplay. There are a lot of games remaining and this is just the beginning. Lots of positive to take out from this match.

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