Chennai Super Kings’ Suresh Raina whips one past long-on en route to his fifty against Delhi Daredevils in Abu Dhabi. (BCCI)

Agencies/Abu Dhabi


Bowlers Ishwar Pandey, Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja all claimed two wickets apiece as Chennai Super Kings claimed their biggest ever Indian Premier League victory, a 93-run triumph, over Delhi Daredevils at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
After posting a competitive 177 for seven built around Suresh Raina’s 56 off 41 deliveries and a 32 of 18 balls blitz by MS Dhoni, the former champions then dismissed Delhi for a woeful 84. Proteas Twenty20 captain Faf du Plessis was outstanding in the field with two stunning catches, while Pandey picked up two for 23, Jadeja two for 18 and Ashwin the remarkable figures of two for three in two overs.
After losing the toss and being asked to bowl first, Delhi, already without captain Kevin Pietersen, suffered a big blow in the first over when they lost key bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile to injury while fielding. Chennai were off to a flying start thanks to Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith with the pair taking 23 from the first three overs.
But they did manage to finally strike at the start over over four when New Zealander McCullum was out for nine, caught by substitute fielder Wayne Parnell off Jaydev Unadkat (3-32) at short third man, having being put down by JP Duminy to an absolute sitter at short cover the previous delivery.
Raina was next in, and after a cagey start, helped take Chennai past 50 in the ninth over.
Along with Smith, they put on 50 in 44 balls, with the partnership ending after a Shahbaz Nadeem arm ball cleaned up the West Indian for 29 from 28 balls.
India batsman Murali Vijay was surprisingly tossed the ball and gave Chennai even more momentum by conceding nine in an over, most of them to Raina, who then notched up a 19th IPL career 50 from 36 deliveries.
The 100 was raised with 37 deliveries still to go, but Jimmy Neesham then struck to remove the dangerous Raina, skying to Vijay at long-on, while Du Plessis (24) followed to Mohammed Shami in the same manner not long after.
But Dhoni continued to pummel the bowling, raising the 150 with two overs to go, although he and Jadeja (seven) both fell in Unadkat’s 19th over. However, with 58 coming in the last four overs, the Super Kings managed to set a more than competitive total.
The reply was a poor one from Delhi and they never recovered from slipping to 17 for three in the fifth over.
Mayank Agarwal (two) and Manoj Tiwary (nought) both fell to Pandey, while Vijay (11) was splendidly caught by Du Plessis running back from mid-off with Mohit Sharma the bowler.
And when Duminy (15) and Ross Taylor (six) also fell with only 50 on the board, the chase was over before it had started.
Stand-in Delhi captain Dinesh Karthik made 21 and was the sixth wicket to fall, but by then the game was lost as Chennai secured their first win of the season.
Chennai skipper Dhoni was satisfied with the win. “It was a complete performance. Catches win matches and we held on to out catches well. This was a perfect game for us, there was a bit of help for fast bowlers as the ball was seaming,” he said.