Spinners Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin's tight spells with the ball were instrumental in Delhi Capitals scoring a narrow three wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings in Monday's IPL match in Dubai.
Axar was brought on early to bowl in the Powerplay against the in-form CSK opening duo of Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
The left-arm spinner struck with his very first over, dismissing Faf, caught at deep midwicket for 10.
Moeen Ali looked to hit Axar over the leg side but holed out to Shreyas Iyer in the deep. Ashwin made it worse for CSK with a wicket in the very next over. Robin Uthappa top-edged the slog-sweep and was caught by the bowler himself after scoring 19.
The two spinners spun a web around the CSK batsmen on a wicket that was not easy for batting. Axar enjoyed another good outing with the ball, registering wonderful figures of 2/18 in four overs, without conceding a single boundary in his spell.
Ashwin was also tidy, taking 1 for 20 in his four overs. CSK Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni struggled to 18 from 27 balls, not able to hit a single four.
It was only because of Ambati Rayudu's late counter attack, which saw him hit 55 not out off 43 balls, that CSK posted 136/5 in their 20 overs.
Delhi Capitals edged to victory with two balls to spare and moved to the top of the IPL standings after their 10th win from 13 games.
