Dubai, Oct 4: Shimron Hetmyer kept his nerves and played some fine shots under pressure to guide Delhi Capitals to a three-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in a battle for top-two finish in the Indian Premier League here on Monday.
Needing 28 from the last three overs to reach the target of 137, the Guyanese picked 12 runs against Dwayne Bravo and then got 10 off pacer Josh Hazlewood to bring down the equation to six runs from six balls.
DC completed the job with two balls to spare despite losing Axar Patel.
Hetmyer remained not out on a vital 28 off 18 balls, including a crucial six in the penultimate over.
A disciplined performance by Delhi Capitals bowlers restricted Chennai Super Kings to 136 for five despite a 43-ball 55 not out from the seasoned Ambati Rayudu.
The flashy Prithvi Shaw smashed three boundaries in seven balls to get the DC innings going but, while trying to go for one too many, the Mumbaikar threw his wicket away when he failed to negotiate Deepak Chahar’s extra bounce and Faf du Plessis ran backwards from mid-off to complete the catch.
Josh Hazlewood bowled a tight fourth over, conceding just three runs, but Shikhar Dhawan clobbered Chahar for two sixes and as many fours to get 21 in the fifth over.
However, Hazlewood cut short Shreyas Iyer’s (2) brief stay in the middle when he could not execute a pull shot. Ravindra Jadeja sent back Rishabh Pant (15) when the DC skipper tried to sweep a quicker delivery from the left-arm spinner.
Debutant Ripal Patel hit two fours as DC required 53 from 54 balls, but Jadeja came back to get the better of the new man from Gujarat.
R Ashwin too followed suit and when Dhawan, three balls after getting a decision against him overturned through a review, played Shardul Thakur to cover in a soft dismissal, DC were in trouble at 99 for six at the end of the 15th over.
Thakur returned excellent figures, while Jadeja had 2/28. Substitute fielder K Gowtham dropped Shimron Hetmyer at a crucial stage of the game, the ball instead going past the ropes.
Earlier, Rayudu reached his fifty when he slashed Anrich Nortje over point for a boundary, following a six over deep extra over in the innings’ 19th over, from which CSK scored 14 runs.
However, Avesh Khan bowled a fantastic final over in which he conceded only four runs while taking the wicket of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (18).
Rayudu smashed five fours and two sixes during his stay in the middle.
A major part of DC’s bowling effort was a far cry from pacer Nortje’s horrendous first over when he conceded 16 runs, with nine off them coming off leg byes. (PTI)
Today’s Match
Royals vs Mumbai
at 7:30 pm IST
