Vishakapatnam, Apr 1: Rishabh Pant hit a much-awaited fifty after David Warner’s well-constructed 52 to set up Delhi Capitals’ convincing 20-run win over Chennai Super Kings for whom veteran MS Dhoni’s vintage knock was not enough to cross the line in their IPL match here Sunday. Faced with a tough 192-run target, the Super Kings tried to scale it down through Ajinkya Rahane (45), Dhoni (37 not out) and Daryl Mitchell (34) but the Capitals carried far too many guns for them on the night. CSK ended up at 171 for six.
Khaleel, POTM, said, Have worked hard in the domestic season. Played a lot of matches in the last six months which has helped me know my game better. Love it when the ball swings and the batters get beaten. Have tried to figure out how I can keep myself fit. Red-ball game teaches you a lot about how the ball is coming out of the hand. Ultimate goal is to play for India.
Pant, DC skipper said, ‘Bowlers have been clinical today. We’ve learnt from our mistake. He’s been working hard from last two weeks (Shaw). We thought it’s time to give him a chance and he flourished. It will depend on match to match, but if Mukesh can bowl at the death it’ll be great. As a cricketer I’ve to give my 100 percent. Took some time initially as I haven’t played much cricket in the last 1.5 years. This is something I’ve depended my life on. Always had the self-belief that whatever happens, it’s important to come back to the ground.
Ruturaj, CSK skipper said, I think I was pretty much happy with the way they (bowlers) came back after the start (powerplay). Restricting them to 191 was a good effort. The pitch was on the better side in the first innings. Second innings there was extra seam movement and spongy bounce. I felt he (Rachin) was missing it by a big margin. We couldn’t get going in the first three overs and that was the difference. At the halfway stage it was getable. There was extra seam movement and we couldn’t capitalize and we were always behind. We didn’t get the big over to reduce the run rate. Not really (if an extra bowler in the line up with help in powerplay). Deepak is always used to bowling 3 overs. Even though the first four overs were good, the last two overs were expensive. After two good games you can expect the third game to go below par and that’s nothing to worry about. Just two or three hits here and there, in the field if we had stopped one or two boundaries it could have been different.
Nortje said, (On his fitness) Felt a lot better, getting into things again. More game time, the better it will be. The training has been good, I focus on one or two areas on where I want to land it. I like to go straight yorker, but have been training on that wide yorker. (On bowling unit) We are building up slowly. The way the boys are starting- Khaleel, Mukesh and Ishant, to see the swing and speed is really exciting. Very encouraging for me as the 3rd or 4th change bowler in this line-up.