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IPL PHOTOS: Smith, Raina guide Chennai to convincing win over Delhi
The explosive Dwayne Smith smoked a brilliant 79 off 51 balls as Chennai Super Kings beat Delhi Daredevils by eight wickets in the IPL match, at the Feroz Shah Kotla, on Monday.
Chasing a stiff target of 179 runs, Chennai got off to a solid start from openers Smith and Brendon McCullum, who added 82 runs for the opening wicket.
After McCullum’s departure, Smith was joined by Suresh Raina, who blasted an unbeaten 27-ball 47, as the men in yellow got over the line with two balls to spare.
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De Kock gives Delhi a brisk start
Earlier, put in to bat first, Delhi made a good start as Quinton de Kock took upon the mantle of scoring fast by punishing even the good balls from the Chennai bowlers.
The South African got going in the opening over itself, hitting Ben Hilfenhaus for a boundary.
He then took advantage of the Australian bowler's change of pace and creamed one through the covers for a delightful boundary.
Ishwar Pandey, who was pretty consistent this season, came in for some rough treatment from de Kock.
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Mohit Sharma provides Chennai the breakthrough
Mohit Sharma provided Chennai the opening breakthrough against the run of play. Murali Vijay stroked one through the off side and set off for a brace. Suresh Raina dived to stop the ball crossing the boundary and Jadeja did the clean up part.
De kock, meanwhile, decided to steal a third one. With de Kock halfway down the pitch Vijay refused. As the South African scampered back Mohit ran him out by miles.
Mohit then had skipper Kevin Pietersen castled for nought. The ball darted back and crashed onto the off-stump much to the delight of the bowler.
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Karthik counter-punches the Chennai bowlers
Dinesh Karthik, who was struggling for form so far, came good at a crucial time.
He counter-punched the Chennai bowlers, smacking Jadeja for a maximum and boundary to make his intentions clear.
The Delhi wicketkeeper repeated the feat off Mohit Sharma as Delhi got the much-needed momentum.
He soon completed his half-century with a boundary off Hilfenhaus off just 35 balls, which included four boundaries and three sixes.
Karthik, however, departed the next ball as he hit one straight to square leg, where Mohit took a neat catch.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla, promoted up the order, didn’t bother to trouble the scorers, chipping one to Ishwar Pandey at long-off off Ravichandran Ashwin.
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Jhadav, Duminy provide momentum
With wickets falling at regular intervals, it was Kedar Jhadav and JP Duminy to Delhi’s rescue once again.
Duminy upped the ante with four consecutive boundaries off Mohit’s third over.
Jhadav too wasn’t far behind, as in the penultimate over of Delhi's innings, he smoked two sixes and a boundary.
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Chennai openers off to a flier
The most consistent openers in the IPL, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith gave Chennai a racy start to the chase.
The duo were partly helped by the fact that the Delhi bowlers weren’t on their mark and bowled on both sides of the wicket.
Most disappointing was their premium pacer, Mohammad Shami, who was guilty of giving too many loose balls up front.
McCullum latched onto a short delivery from Shami and dispatched it to the mid-wicket boundary twice in his second over.
Jaydev Undakat bore the brunt of McCullum's blade as the Kiwi smoked the young Indian pacer for three consecutive sixes in his opening over.
Smith wasn’t far behind in six-hitting as he took on spinner Shahbaz Nadeem and dispatched him to all corners.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla provided the breakthrough, but not before the duo had added 82 runs for the opening wicket.
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Smith's strokes his way to fourth 50
Dwayne Smith is emerging the most consistent batsman in this seventh season of the IPL. He now has four half-centuries to his name in seven innings.
The latest one was against Delhi. The dashing West Indian was in control of the chase even when Chennai dropped behind the Duckworth/Lewis method.
He immediately brought down the asking rate with a six and boundary, which also brought up his half-century.
Suresh Raina, who came in after McCullum, signalled his intentions, with two boundaries off Laxmi Ratan Shukla.
Unadkat too wasn’t spared as Raina took advantage off some poor bowling.
But Shami was the most disappointing.
Smith hit two boundaries and a six to bring the chase well within control. By the time he was dismissed, Chennai were almost through.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni finished off the game with a boundary off Unadkat with two balls to spare.