Delhi inch closer to semifinal berth

In a match where the ball did all the talking, it was Gautam Gambhir’s batting that helped Delhi Daredevils defeat Chennai Super Kings by six wickets at Chepauk here tonight.

The pitch helped the bowlers, be it the pacers to start with or the spinners after that, but Delhi managed to overhaul the modest target thanks to a fighting innings from a tired-looking Gambhir.

The Delhi Daredevils’ innings started in an even more dramatic fashion with the visitors losing three wickets before one could even realise the chase had begun.

The first to fall was David Warner off the bowling of R Ashwin. Then Doug Bollinger struck twice to get rid of Virender Sehwag and then Tillakaratne Dilshan. The scoreboard read 6 for three after 1.4 overs and Delhi were in danger of repeating their spectacular debacle against Kings XI Punjab. Especially after Dinesh Karthik fell in the 7th over, it looked as if Chennai had scripted an amazing recovery.

But Gambhir (57*) played a captain’s knock to rescue the drowning Delhi Daredevils and actually resuscitate his team’s chances of making the semis. Gambhir didn’t play his best knock, but most certainly one of the most important one in his IPL career.

Scoring a half-century on a pitch assisting the bowlers and where the second highest score in the entire match was fighting 30 speaks volumes about the DD skipper’s resolve after his team’s embarrassing loss to KXIP.

Mithun Manhas (25*) provided able support to his captain to see the team through till the end.

The bowlers swung the game in the Daredevils’ favour with some well-directed short-pitched deliveries and spin.

Delhi would have had the perfect start had skipper Gautam Gambhir latched on a chance from Matthew Hayden in the first over itself. But Hayden couldn’t capitalise on the opportunity – he was dismissed thanks to an easy catch taken by Paul Collingwood off Nehra’s bowling.

MS Dhoni came in early, but left as early, unable to control an Ashish Nehra bouncer. Nehra struck again with his bouncer to get rid of the dangerous Murali Vijay in the fourth over.

With the scorecard reading 23 for three, what Chennai needed was a partnership. But Michael Hussey and Suresh Raina failed to convert their starts into anything substantial. The duo got out in successive overs. Dilshan, back in the squad, got Raina to play a lofted shot for the deep cover fielder to take the catch. Hussey then was unable to keep the ball down and left with the Chennai innings in disarray.

The Delhi spinners were in complete control throughout the game gobbling up CSK wickets at regular intervals. It was S Badrinath’s (30) innings that helped Chennai Super Kings reach 112. But he couldn’t stay till the end either resulting in a meagre – and ultimately losing - total for the hosts.