MS Dhoni had said at the throw that it was not an easy task to defend the grand total at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, and he made his assessment exactly when Delhi Capitals at the start of the IPL 2021 on Saturday an above-average goal with 189 runs easy has made .
It was trainee Rishabh Pant who defeated his master Dhoni to successfully start his career as an IPL captain. It was also the third consecutive win for Delhi Capitals against the three-time champions who had a doubles against Dhoni’s men in the 2020 IPL.
CSK vs DC, IPL 2021: Highlights
Led by the T20 batting master class of openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan, Delhi Capitals shot down the target in just 18.4 overs to get their campaign off to a strong start. On the flip side, Chennai Super Kings lost their opener in an IPL season for the first time since losing to the Punjab Kings in 2014.
T20 master class from Dhawan-Shaw
Chennai Super Kings had enviable depth in their strike order, but lacked the firepower in the bowling unit needed to stop it Onslaught from Dhawan and Shaw. The senior opener, who was the first batsman to hit two consecutive hundreds in the IPL last year, smashed 85 of only 54 balls and played with CSK field players at the season opener.
Dhawan and Shaw apparently had a lot of competition between them when they bulleted the CSK bowling attack that looked unfortunate on Super Saturday. Dhawan hit 2 sixes and 10 borders and brought the capitals just before the goal before leaving the LBW on the 17th. During Dhawan’s stay in the middle, Captain MS Dhoni looked exhausted when nothing was going on for CSK.
Shaw, on the other hand, wore his good domestic shape and showed his critics a point by popping a 38-ball 72. The young opener from Mumbai was at the top of his game as he found gaps at will and looked like he was going to hit the boundaries of any delivery he faced.
Shaw lost his place on the Delhi Capitals squad after poor form last year but the youngster looks like he’ll have sealed first place for the foreseeable future.
Both Dhawan and Shaw could not carry their bat, but they had done enough damage. Captain Rishabh Pant, who was promoted to third place, and Marcus Stoinis took care of the formalities.
None of the CSK bowlers except Dwayne Bravo looked like they had anything to stop the carnage of Shaw and Dhawan.
Suresh Raina’s noble 54 on IPL return ends in vain
Earlier in the day, Chennai Super Kings scored 188 points, despite being reduced to 2 for 7 in the first three overs after opening sleek openers Faf du Plessis and Rurutaj Gaikwad. CSK only managed 32 runs in power play, but Suresh Raina made sure that CSK got the much-needed push in the middle.
Raina returned to the IPL with a bang when he hit a 54-ball 36 filled with free flowing strokes, particularly against the Delhi Capitals two spinners at R Ashwin and Amit Mishra.
CSK missed the middle-overs champion last year, but on his very first appearance for CSK in IPL 2020, the left-hander made sure that CSK milked 105 runs from overs 7 to 15.
Raina sewed fifty run stalls with Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu as the two batsmen stepped in with practical contributions.
However, Avesh Khan struck in quick succession to hold back CSK, who were ultimately saved by a blitzkrieg from Sam Curran (15-Ball 35).
