Chennai Super Kings bowlers exposed the vulnerability of the Delhi Daredevils' top-order as the defending champions thrashed the current table toppers by nine wickets in an Indian Premier League match, here on Saturday. With this Chennai moved to fourth on the points table of the IPL.
Chasing 115-run target, Chennai Super Kings lost Michael Hussey (38) after he put on a 75-run opening stand with Murali Vijay. From there, Vijay and Suresh Raina guided the hosts to an easy victory and finished the match well within 16th over.
Irfan Pathan struck in the eleventh over to give Delhi a crucial breakthrough but it seem too little too late. Hussey hit a six and five boundaries in his quick 32-ball innings as he laid a solid platform for the hosts to win the match comfortably.
Earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's decision to bowl first after winning the toss enjoyed great success as the Delhi were restricted to a modest total of 114 for 5. Ben Hifenhaus snaffled 3 for 27 and also received great support from Albie Morkel (1 for 15) and R Ashiwn (1 for 17) to put the skids on the home side.
Put into bat, Delhi lost Virender Sehwag (4), last match's centurion David Warner (8) and Naman Ojha (3) early thanks to brilliant bowling by Hilfenhaus. In another couple of deliveries, it was four down with Mahela Jayawardene (8) also back in the dug-out courtesy Albie Morkel. Delhi were tottering at 24 for 4 in just six overs.
Delhi Daredevils had to rebuild the innings from there, and Yogesh Nagar (43 not out) chalked up a crucial stand of 48 with Venugopal Rao (27). But the going was slow, and the Delhi side had to content themselves with adding only 42 more runs in their last seven overs. Venugopal did try his bit as he lofted Ravindra Jadeja for a straight six --- the first of the match in the ninth over. The duo mainly played in singles and doubles but boundaries were hard to come by.
However a brilliant piece of work by Albie at short cover saw the back of Venu and it slowed things down further. Irfan Pathan (13 not out) hung around with Nagar to help Delhi post 115 on board.
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