In the 13th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024), the Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) took on the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Sunday, March 31.
Surprisingly in the match, Delhi Capitals won the toss and decided to bat first. They made two changes to their playing eleven, as Kuldeep Yadav, who was injured, and Ricky Bhui were replaced by Prithvi Shaw and Ishant Sharma. Chennai Super Kings unexpectedly fielded an unchanged playing XI.
Playing his first match in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Prithvi Shaw set the stage on fire and gave a message to the DC team management. He played his natural aggressive cricket and was involved in a brilliant partnership of 93 runs with experienced opener David Warner. Shaw, playing in the middle order, scored 43 runs on 27 balls and David Warner scored 52 runs on 25 balls. DC's openers were out in the 10th and 11th overs and CSK made a brief comeback in the match. CSK fast bowler Mathisha Pathirana gave another blow to Delhi Capitals by dismissing Mitchell Marsh and Tristan Stubbs with a fast yorker in the 15th over. Although DC were losing wickets at regular intervals, captain Rishabh Pant stood his ground at one end and carried on at exceptionally good pace to score a brilliant half-century. He scored 51 runs in 32 balls with the help of 4 fours and 3 sixes and took Delhi Capitals to an impressive score of 191/5 on the board. For Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mathisha Pathirana was the top performer with the ball, taking 3 wickets. He got good support from the other bowlers as Mustafizur Rahman and Ravindra Jadeja took one wicket each. CSK had a very bad start while chasing the target. In-form openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra failed to give a good start to their team and returned to the dugout within 3 overs. Gaikwad scored 1 while Ravindra scored 2 runs. After losing two early wickets, Ajinkya Rahane produced a brilliant batting display and stitched a crucial 68-run partnership with Daryl Mitchell. Rahane fell 5 runs short of his half-century and Mitchell was out after scoring 34 runs. Impact player Shivam Dube entered the field with high expectations, but he wasn’t able to replicate his heroics from previous matches.
Finally, vintage MS Dhoni showed why he is the all-time great when it comes to batting in the late overs. He started his innings with a four and then hit 3 more fours and 3 extraordinary sixes during his stay in the middle. MS Dhoni scored 37 runs in 16 balls and Ravindra Jadeja scored 21 runs in 17 balls, but CSK were restricted to 171/6. DC won the match by 20 runs and gave CSK its first defeat of the season.
