T20 Cricket News

20 overs Chennai Super Kings 112 for 9 (Badrinath 30*, Nehra 3-26, Sehwag 2-18) v Delhi Daredevils

The pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium had assistance for the fast bowlers with the new ball, and then spun for the slower men, and Delhi Daredevils' attack thrived on it. Their discipline and probing lines restricted Chennai Super Kings to their lowest score this season and gave Delhi, who have lost three matches in a row, an opportunity to grab two points and improve their net run-rate.

MS Dhoni expected the ball to turn and decided to bat before it spun more in the night. However, his top order failed to survive Ashish Nehra and Dirk Nannes, who returned after recovering from a hand injury. Matthew Hayden was dropped before he scored in the first over, but Nehra had him in the second. After a period of quiet, Hayden decided to advance, Nehra saw him coming and shortened the length. The batsman's loft was caught by Paul Collingwood running back from cover. Nannes and Nehra also used the short ball effectively, inducing top edges from MS Dhoni and M Vijay that were caught at square leg and by the wicketkeeper, leaving Chennai on 23 for 3.

Raina attempted to counterattack, driving Umesh Yadav's first ball to the cover boundary before pulling over mid-on. His partner Michael Hussey was nudging the ball around and Chennai's run-rate was just over six an over after the Powerplay.

Gautam Gambhir brought on his spinners after the fielding restrictions were lifted and Tillakaratne Dilshan increased the pressure by bowling a five-run over. Hussey collected two fortunate boundaries, off a misfield and an edge, against Virender Sehwag in the eighth over. It was the last time Chennai would score more than six in an over until the 18th.

Three wickets fell in the next two overs: Raina lofted Dilshan to deep cover, where Yadav ran in to judge the catch, Hussey lobbed Sehwag tamely to cover, and Albie Morkel was caught at slip. Sehwag got him with a terrific delivery: it drifted into the left-hander from round the wicket, dipped, pitched on leg and middle, and spun across the face of the bat. Morkel pushed forward and the outside edge was held by Collingwood, who dived forward to take a low catch.

Chennai were reeling at 55 for 6 by the half-way stage, with only S Badrinath left of the specialist batsmen. He nudged singles and watched his partners struggle against Amit Mishra, who shared Sehwag and Dilshan's success. The run-rate plummeted as more wickets fell, and it wasn't until Doug Bollinger lofted the last ball of the 18th over beyond long off, that a subdued Chennai crowd celebrated the innings' first six.

Badrinath stayed deep in his crease and lofted Nannes over mid on in the 19th over to bring up the hundred and singles off the remaining balls gave Chennai 11 runs off it. The hosts managed to take 12 off the final over - 33 off the last three - but still made only 112.

Chennai and Delhi are third and fourth on the points table but this bowling performance has given the visitors the chance to swap positions.

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