Comeback man Rishabh Pant hit a much-awaited fifty after David Warner’s well-constructed 52 to arrange Delhi Capitals’ convincing 20-run win over Chennai Super Kings for whom veteran MS Dhoni’s classic knock was not sufficient to cross the road of their IPL match in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. Faced with a troublesome 192-run goal, the Super Kings tried to scale it down via Ajinkya Rahane (45), Dhoni (37 not out) and Daryl Mitchell (34) however the Capitals carried far too many weapons for them on the evening. CSK ended up at 171 for six.

In the primary session, Warner and Prithvi Shaw (43) overcame a gradual begin to share a 93-run opening stand earlier than Pant’s 32-ball 51 powered DC to a aggressive 191 for five.

Pant, who got here into the event after recovering from a life-threatening highway mishap in December 2022, belted 4 boundaries and three maximums for his first fifty in 15 months.

Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (2/21) set the tone for DC’s defence together with his twin strikes within the Power Play which led to its fruition by pacer Mukesh Kumar (3/21).

While Ruturaj Gaikwad’s (1) hassle in opposition to left-arm seamers continued as he was completed in by an outstanding inswinger, a pissed off Rachin Ravindra (2) holed out to Tristan Stubbs after a 12-ball keep as CSK slumped to 32 for two in six overs.

Rahane and Mitchell offered some stability with a 68-run stand, which included a 17-run over off DC’s affect sub Rasikh Salam’s second over however left-arm spinner Axar Patel ousted the New Zealander to interrupt the alliance.

It was a Mukesh present thereafter as approaching to bowl after the thirteenth over, he struck twice in two balls to take away Rahane and Sameer Rizvi (0), leaving CSK at 102 for five within the 14th over.

Shivam Dube (18) was subsequent to go as Mukesh saved bowling large outdoors off and various the tempo because the batter finally despatched one straight to long-off.

With CSK needing 58 off 18 balls, Dhoni walked out to bat for the primary time this season amid chants of “Dhoni Dhoni” and handled his followers to some pleasant pictures.

The former CSK skipper blasted two fours within the first three balls with Ahmed dropping a sitter within the second ball.

Dhoni then clobbered a six over additional cowl off Ahmed, who ended up with three wides to concede 12 runs. But Mukesh conceded simply 5 runs within the nineteenth over to crush CSK’s dream, leaving them to make an unimaginable 41 off the final over.

Dhoni, who turned the clock again, nonetheless, gave his followers sufficient to cheer with a 4 and a one-handed six off the primary two balls earlier than producing one other 4 and a last-ball six as CSK racked up 20 runs.

But the Dhoni hurricane got here a trifle late.

Earlier, the in-form Warner slammed 5 boundaries and three maximums throughout his 35-ball 52, whereas Shaw, enjoying his first recreation this season, smashed two sixes and 4 boundaries in his 27-ball 43.

However, Pathirana produced a sensational catch to dismiss Warner after which returned to strike twice in three balls to carry CSK again into the sport.

But Pant, who had regarded in effective fettle in his two earlier innings, took his time to settle after which exploded in the long run overs to take them near a 200-total.

DC had a watchful begin as they had been going at run-a-ball fee for the primary 4 overs.

Warner then picked Deepak Chahar for the particular remedy, depositing him twice into the stands on the leg aspect. He additionally hit two fours on the off aspect to build up 18 off the fifth over.

Mustafizur Rahman was then taken to the cleaners with Shaw hitting three successive fours as DC posted their highest powerplay rating of 62/0 of this IPL.

It took the brilliance of Pathirana to ship Warner again because the Sri Lankan dived to his proper and plucked the ball from skinny air, leaving the Aussie shocked as Mustafizur drew first blood.

Shaw smashed one other six to take DC previous the 100-run mark however Jadeja dismissed him subsequent ball, inducing an edge as Dhoni did the remainder for his three hundredth dismissal — the very best by a keeper in T20s.

With the 2 openers gone, the scoring fee dropped as skipper Pant struggled for early momentum.

Pathirana then unleashed a 150kph thunderbolt to uproot the middle-stump of Mitchell Marsh after which rattled Stubbs’ timbers with an in-swinging yorker to go away DC at 134 for 4 in 15 overs.

Pant then stepped up, plundering a 4 and a six off Mustafizur after which launched into Pathirana, clobbering him for a six and two fours within the nineteenth over as 43 runs got here off the ultimate three overs.

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