A dominant opening partnership from Shaw and Dhawan cleared the victory for Delhi by 7 wickets against Chennai in the second Indian T20 League 2021 encounter.
Toss: Delhi opted to field first
Venue: Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai
Detailed Match Report
First Innings (Chennai 188/7)
Delhi picked Woakes, Hetmyer, Stoinis, and Tom Curran as four overseas players while Chennai went with Moeen Ali, Bravo, Plessis, and Sam Curran. Chennai’s start was so poor as they lost both openers on 7. Raina came back after 699 days in Indian T20 League and he played a sheet anchor for Chennai. Meanwhile, Moeen Ali added the acceleration. After hitting two straight sixes to Ashwin, he threw his wicket after 24-balls 36. Raina completed his half-century with a huge six.
Rayudu and Raina added 63 runs for the 4th wicket and Delhi came back in the game with three wickets in the margin of 14 runs. Dhoni got a 2-ball duck and it was his first duck after 6 years. Sam Curran continued his attacking approach and added 51 runs for the 7th wicket with Jadeja. He provided a blistering cameo of 34 off just 15 balls. Tom Curran conceded 23 off the 19th over and it helped Chennai to post 188 in full 20-overs.
Second Innings (Delhi 190/3)
Delhi’s start was just outstanding and they allowed Dhoni to rethink about his bowling combination. The duo got easy boundaries in the powerplay and crossed 60 in the first 6-overs. Chennai looked clueless in middle-overs despite trying spinners like Jadeja and Moeen. Shaw completed his 7th half-century in Indian T20 League and Dhawan also got another half-century. Both added 100 runs in just 10.1 overs.
Boundaries were flowing in Mumbai with ease for both openers and Delhi made a cakewalk to this chase. Bravo broke the 138-runs stand with the wicket of Shaw who scored 72 off just 38 balls. Dhawan made a record of 600 fours in the Indian T20 League and also surpassed Kohli to become top-scorer against Chennai in overall tournament history. He scored a fine 85 before going LBW out to Shardul Thakur. Delhi chased down the target with seven wickets in hand.
Star Performer of the Match
Shikhar Dhawan is our star performer of the match. The left-hander knocked out Chennai bowlers with an attacking display. He kept Delhi on the driver’s seat and made the mockery of this chase. In his innings of 85, he smashed ten fours and two sixes.
5 impactful players of the match
Suresh Raina 54 (36)
Shikhar Dhawan 85 (54)
Prithvi Shaw 72 (38)
Sam Curran 34 (15)
Avesh Khan 23/2
