Fine knocks by Rishabh Pant, Vijay Shankar in vain as Delhi Daredevils lose by 13 runs.
IMAGES from Monday's IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Daredevils in Pune.
Shane Watson and Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored scintillating half-centuries to set up Chennai Super Kings’s 13-run win over Delhi Daredevils in Pune on Monday, taking the two-time IPL champions closer to a play-offs berth.
Watson (78 off 40 balls) and Dhoni (51 not out off 22) gave a masterclass in power hitting to fire Super Kings to 211 for four after Daredevils opted to field on a good batting surface.
Needing more than 10 runs an over put pressure on the visitors and Delhi wilted under pressure. Rishabh Pant (79 off 45) and Vijay Shankar (54 not out off 31) ensured Daredevils got closer to the target but it was not enough as they finished with 198 for five.
Super Kings pacer Lungi Ngidi impressed on his IPL debut, with figures of one for 26 in four overs, and M K Asif, another debutant, had figures of 2 for 43.
It was Delhi's sixth loss in eight games. They are all but out of the play-offs' race.
With a sixth win in eight games, CSK consolidated their position at the top of the points' table. They are tied on 12 points with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Delhi kept losing wickets in the chase and at 74 for four in ninth over it was all over for them.
Earlier, Watson was back to his brutal best after three low scores and shared a 102-run opening off 66 balls stand with Faf du Plessis (33) after surviving a close lbw call on the first ball of the match.
Dhoni showed his devastating touch in the last five overs, which produced 74 runs. It was also Dhoni's second fastest fifty in the IPL.
Delhi opted to field on a good batting wicket after winning the toss and Super Kings pounced on the opportunity.
It was also a bit surprising that the tournament's leading run-scorer Ambati Rayudu (41 off 24) did not open the innings with Watson.
However, the Watson-Du Plessis duo produced the desired result for the Super Kings, who raced to 100 in just 10.2 overs.
Watson, who hit a hundred earlier in the tournament, got going by dispatching Liam Plunkett for two sixes in the fifth over that eventually leaked 20 runs.
He hammered as many as seven sixes, most of them coming straight or over square leg.
When the former Australia all-rounder departed, the dangerous combine of Rayudu and Dhoni got together in the 14th over.
The captain got into the act with successive sixes off Boult, one over mid-wicket and another with a bottom-handed jab over long on. The third one was a whip off Avesh Khan over square, almost going out of the ground. He ended up with five sixes and two fours.
Rayudu too made sure the big hits kept coming as he hit five fours and a six in his cameo. His fourth-wicket stand of 79 with Dhoni came off just 36 balls.
The Super Kings batsman was able to complete a third half century of the IPL-11 with a double off the final ball of the innings.
The Delhi bowlers were all over the place, especially the experienced Boult and Plunkett who leaked 100 runs in seven overs.
Dhoni made as many four changes in the playing eleven, bringing in Du Plessis, Karn Sharma, Ngidi and young Kerala pacer Asif.
Daredevils on the other hand did not make any changes after a much needed win over KKR at home.
