DUBAI, Oct 10:
The ageless Mahendra Singh Dhoni produced a nostalgic little innings to take a band of old men from Chennai Super Kings into their ninth Indian Premier League final after beating Delhi Capitals by four wickets here today.
DC though will get another shot at making it to the final when they meet the winner of the eliminator between KKR and RCB scheduled Monday.
Needing 13 off the last over, Dhoni hit a square cut, got a bit of luck going his way and then pulled DC’s best bowler Tom Curran for the most celebrated T20 boundary of recent times. Before that, he had just slapped Avesh Khan for a six over mid-wicket.
Curran and Avesh weren’t bad but it was one of those days, the cricketing Gods wanted the 40-year-old to finish it in style.
It was 18 not out in six balls that helped CSK reach 173 for 6 in 19.4 overs.
It was all about turning the clock back for the former India captain who has struggled to finish for years but ‘Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man’ as he did once more for his favourite cricket team.
After the win, his emotional wife Sakshi was engaged in a beer hug with daughter Ziva which would tell what it meat to the family.
It was just six balls and in that he missed a couple and got boundaries off the rest.
Robin Uthappa (63 off 44 balls) turned the clock back to his halcyon days being the pace setter in company of the irresistible Ruturaj Gaikwad (70 off 50 balls).
After Faf du Plessis was bowled by Kagiso Rabada, Uthappa decided to counter attack with such ferocity that it caught the Delhi Capitals completely unawares. Here was a player, who has been out of circulation for quite some time but with in-form Gaikwad (70 off 50 balls), he added 110 runs as DC looked down and out after the first 10 overs.
Uthappa looked like his old self, something that made him a formidable T20 player back in the day, who would win matches and IPL titles for Kolkata Knight Riders for fun.
There were drives, the reverse sweep, the Uthappa pull-shot and those shots while he also shimmied down the track to unsettled the line of the bowlers.
In all, he hit seven fours and two sixes before a brilliant piece of fielding by Shreyas Iyer at long-on boundary off Tom Curran. Iyer almost collided with Axar Patel but kept his balance to throw the ball in and catch it on second attempt.(PTI)
Scoreboard
Delhi Capitals:
Prithvi Shaw c du Plessis b Jadeja 60
Shikhar Dhawan c Dhoni b Hazlewood 7
Shreyas Iyer c Gaikwad b Hazlewood 1
Axar Patel c sub b Ali 10
Rishabh Pant not out 51
Shimron Hetmyer c Jadeja b Bravo 37
Tom Curran not out 0
Extras: (W-6) 6
Total: (For 5 wickets in 20 overs) 172
Fall of wickets: 1/36 2/50 3/77 4/80
Bowling: Deepak Chahar 3-0-26-0, Josh Hazlewood 4-0-29-2, Shardul Thakur 3-0-36-0, Ravindra Jadeja 3-0-23-1, Moeen Ali 4-0-27-1, Dwayne Bravo 3-0-31-1.
Chennai Super Kings
RRuturaj Gaikwad c Axar b Avesh Khan 70
Faf du Plessis b Nortje 1
Robin Uthappa c Shreyas Iyer b Tom Curran 63
Shardul Thakur c Shreyas Iyer b Tom Curran 0
Ambati Rayudu run out (Shreyas Iyer/Rabada) 1
Moeen Ali c Rabada b Tom Curran 16
MS Dhoni (c) not out 18
Ravindra Jadeja not out 0
Extras: (lb 1, w 3,) 4
Total: (6 wkts, 19.4 Ov) 173
Fall of Wickets: 3-1, 113-2, 117-3, 119-4, 149-5, 160-6
Bowling: Anrich Nortje 4-0-31-1, Avesh Khan 4-0-47-1, Kagiso Rabada 3-0-23-0, Axar Patel 3-0-23-0, Tom Curran 3.4-0-29-3, Ravichandran Ashwin 2-0-19-0.
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