A Tough Pill to Swallow, but the Capitals Have Another Shot at a Spot in the IPL Final

Qualifier 1 - DC vs CSK in 50 Words

Prithvi Shaw (60 off 34) raced off the blocks, while Rishabh Pant rode through middle-order troubles with 51*. Gaikwad and Uthappa put on 110 before we fought hard to get back into the game, only for MSD to take it away in the end. We Roar Together again on Wednesday.

A Trademark Shaw Start & Pant Finish

The all-important toss in the all-important first Qualifier went the mentor’s way, which meant that the protégé and his squad were put in to bat first. The Capitals went into the Playoff encounter with the one change - Tom Curran came into the XI for Ripal Patel.

The first over went by quietly, but Prithvi Shaw showed intent to really get into the bowling from the second. Deepak Chahar has had his number in the past, but when he ran in for his second over Shaw was clear in his mindset. He stood upright and cracked a punch through the offside before flicking and cutting his way to four boundaries in the over. The opener looked switched on.

Josh Hazlewood found Shikhar Dhawan’s edge for 7, but the Shaw had just begun. Prithvi smashed a pull in front of square but over the ropes, and followed it up with a beautiful loft straight over the bowler’s head for another maximum. Shardul Thakur was one of CSK’s best bowlers in the UAE phase, but Shaw handed his domestic teammate some rough treatment. Unfortunately, no one apart from Shaw got going in the powerplay as Hazlewood found Iyer’s leading edge for 1 with DC 51/2.

In a surprise move, Axar Patel was promoted to number 4 in a bid to lengthen the batting order. Shaw at the other end was in his zone against the spinners too, sweeping Jadeja with ease as he raced to fifty in just 27 balls.

Alas, we lost both Axar Patel and Prithvi Shaw (60 off 34) in the space of four balls and we slipped to 80/4 just after the halfway mark. The twin wickets could easily have dented our progress had it not been for a stellar partnership between Pant and Hettie. After a couple of overs of consolidation, Hetmyer started to find the ropes and go over them too. The skipper joined the party soon, with a one-handed six off Thakur.

With a little bit of luck and a lot of skill and power, the boundaries now flowed regularly until Hettie was caught in the deep. With an 83-run stand, the duo had put on the best partnership for the fifth wicket in an IPL Playoff game.

The skipper kicked on, got past fifty, and took his side to a total of 172/5 after 20 overs.

Of Fightbacks and Nervy Finishes

Anrich Nortje has been bowling like a dream this IPL, and he got us off to the best start possible by cleaning up Faf du Plessis with an absolute rocket that went through him to hit the timber.

However, Robin Uthappa came in at 3 and got cracking right away with a cover drive for four on ball number one. Gaikwad and Uthappa soon started taking the attack to our bowlers, punishing all the bad, and some good balls, to keep the scoreboard moving quickly. Ruturaj welcomed Rabada into the attack with a six, while Robin collected two sixes and two fours with some vintage lofted shots from the final over of the powerplay. Despite the wicket, CSK had managed to put 59 on the board.

The DC tigers fought back well through the middle overs, with zero boundaries coming in the four overs from 7 through 10. Uthappa got to fifty during that phase, and Ruturaj was gradually picking up pace too.

At 13.3, a piece of brilliance (and swag) from Shreyas Iyer at the boundary started to shift the momentum slightly in our favour. Robin Uthappa had been dismissed for 63, but Ruturaj was nearing his half-century too.

Tom Curran rode on the momentum and got the wicket of Shardul Thakur too, who had been promoted as a pinch hitter. Shreyas Iyer was the catcher on this occasion too. Four balls later, we managed to run-out Ambati Rayudu with a rocket throw from the deep that Rabada collected safely and whipped the bails off. No prizes for guessing who the fielder in the deep was! Shreyas Iyer had had a magnificent 10 minutes in the field, and with it he’d well and truly brought us back in the game.

Moeen Ali walked in at 6, and Ruturaj was still going strong at the other end. The equation went up to 44 off 24 balls with CSK needing 11 runs per over. The duo had to go for it. Ruturaj found the ropes a couple of times before the second-highest wicket-taker of the tournament got rid of him for 70, courtesy of an excellent low catch by Axar.

24 were needed from 11 deliveries when MSD walked out ahead of Jadeja. Avesh bowled two dots, but MS managed to find the meat of the bat for a six over mid-wicket between those two balls.

13 from 6, and Curran accounted for his countryman Moeen to bring up a 3-fer. But three boundaries from the blade of MS Dhoni to follow meant that DC stars and fans were left dejected… and we all had only one question on our minds.

The result was a difficult pill to swallow after some fighting performances with bat, ball and in the field. Nevertheless, we’ve got another bite at the cherry in Qualifier 2 and rest assured, the DC Men in Blue will give it their absolute all.

Brief Scores

Delhi Capitals 172/5 in 20 overs (Prithvi Shaw 60 off 34, Rishabh Pant 51* off 35, Josh Hazlewood 2/29, Ravindra Jadeja 1/23); Chennai Super Kings 173/6 in 19.4 overs ( Ruturaj Gaikwad 70 off 50, Robin Uthappa 63 off 44, Tom Curran 3/29, Anrich Nortje 1/31)