#IPL8: #DDvCSK

Delhi Daredevils began their campaign against the mighty Chennai Super Kings. Chennai Super Kings is one of the best teams around the world. While Delhi Daredevils has been busy finding out the right combination in all the IPL seasons till now. This year I think both Coach Gary Kirsten and its players has a point to prove. Hence I consider them the Dark Horses of this season. In this match I was pretty excited to watch the contest between Dhoni and Yuvraj. I have always rated Yuvraj higher than Dhoni as a player. Moreover I agree with Yuvraj's father that Dhoni had a big role in keeping Yuvraj out of the world cup squad. So I really wanted Yuvraj to do well against Chennai Super Kings.

Delhi Daredevils won the toss at Chepauk and chose to field first. It was a surprising decision as the wicket was really good for batting. More than the toss I was surprised to see the playing 11 of Delhi Daredevils. There was no Zaheer, Shami or Manoj Tiwary in it. CM Gautam was picked up ahead of DeKock and Joseph was picked up ahead of Unadkat. Delhi Daredevils were in a mood of experimenting considering first match of tournament. My first feeling was that this Delhi side will be crushed by Chennai Super Kings. Chennai was off to a flyer as Smith hit four 4s in the very first over bowled by Morkel. While other bowlers were leaking runs on one end Coulter-Nile was picking up wickets on the other end. He picked up McCullum in his first over who was looking for bang bang. In his second over Coulter-Nile knocked Raina. Despite of two quick wickets Delhi Daredevils' bowlers were not able to stop the flow of runs. Chennai Super Kings were 59/2 at the end of powerplay.

Tahir and Mishra were brought into the attack after poweplay and they put pressure on Smith and DuPlessis by keeping things tight. It produced wicket for Delhi Daredevils Tahir got Smith and Chennai Super Kings were in trouble. Sir Jadeja came in next. He carried on with DuPlessis and both of them carried on at the nice rate. 100 comes up for Chennai Super Kings in 13th over but on 100 only Chennai lost DuPlessis. Delhi spinners were doing a great job soon after DuPlessis' wicket Mishra picked up Jadeja. After 16 overs Chennai reached to 119 at loss of 5 wickets. Chennai was looking good to get at least 170 with Dhoni and Bravo in the middle. Surprisingly Delhi Daredevils pulled it off from there. Bravo got out in 17th over. Then Dhoni and Ashwin only managed to get 150 on the board of their 20 overs. In Chennai one would take 150 any day. Delhi Daredevils had that depth in their batting to chase that total.

Mayank Agarwal and Gautam began for Delhi Daredevils. They were against the experience of Nehra. Nehra was looking fitter than ever. Fast bowlers run up and follow up suggests how fit he is. Nehra was fit and using his pace to better effect. He picked up Gautam and Mayank Agarwal both in his second over. Delhi Daredevils were 20/2 after the completion of 3 overs. Albie Morkel came in at no. 3 and Shreyas Iyer at no. 4. There were no signs of Yuvraj or Duminy by then. Delhi certainly was experimenting too much. Shreyas Iyer got out on 7 and Daredevils were struggling at 39/3 at the end of 5 overs. Next man in was Kedar Jadhav and there was still no signs of Yuvraj Singh. Delhi Daredevils was trying to make left hand right hand combination in the middle. Jadhav and Morkel became watchful after that.

Morkel was sent in earlier because he was part of Chennai Super Kings so he knew them well but rather than playing the role of agressor he was holding one end. On the other end Jadhav was playing run a ball innings. Delhi Daredevils were 87/3 after 13 overs. In 14th over Jadhav got out. He made 20 off 20 balls. Yuvraj came in next at no. 6 but there was no time to even breathe in the middle by then. Surprisingly Albie Morkel was still holding one end. As a result both Yuvraj and Duminy at no. 6 & 7 got out cheaply. Morkel put Delhi under so much of pressure that even Coulter-Nile and Mishra were not being able to pick up the pace. 19 runs were required from the last over and Delhi's only hope was Albie Morkel. He was there in the middle since third over of the innings and it was because of him Delhi was in such situation. So he had take his team home. He hit the boundary first ball, he took a single on next ball, Tahir got out on the third ball. It brought Morkel back on strike and 14 runs were needed off 3 balls. Morkel dispatched fourth ball in to the crowd. 8 needed off 2. I was feeling nerves at that moment. Morkel picked up a couple on the fifth ball and he only managed to get four on the last ball of the innings.

Delhi lost the match by one run. Delhi could have won it easily if Morkel has played upto his potential and if Yuvraj and Duminy batted up the order. If Yuvraj had played those 20 balls which Jadhav played at no. 5 then game would have been finished by 18th or 19th over. Anyways it was a great effort from Delhi side. This side wasn't even expected to come even near that Chennai Super Kings side but they fought hard and didn't allow Chennai to dominate through out the match. Delhi Daredevils face Rajasthan Royals next. Let's see how they perform against them.

#IPL8: #DDvRR