Delhi Daredevils’ Albie Morkel pulls en route to his 55-ball 73 against Chennai Super Kings during an IPL match in Chennai yesterday. (BCCI)

Agencies/Chennai

A superb display of late hitting by Albie Morkel was not enough to prevent the Delhi Daredevils from a narrow one-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings in their Pepsi Indian Premier League opener at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai yesterday.
The veteran Proteas allrounder stood man alone for his side and clubbed 73 not out from just 55 balls as they came agonisingly close to chasing down the 151 victory target.
Ashish Nehra was the star man with the ball for the hosts, claiming three for 25 during a terrific display of block-hole bowling. With 19 needed of the final over, Morkel could only manage 17 despite punishing Dwayne Bravo with a six and two fours.
Earlier, the three wickets from Nathan Coulter-Nile (3-30) put the brakes on Chennai, restricting them to a modest 150 for seven. Dwaye Smith (34), Faf du Plessis (32) and MS Dhoni (30) all got starts, but failed to kick on for the former champions. The men, asked to bat first by new Delhi captain JP Duminy after losing the toss, made a flying start with Smith plundering Morkel for three boundaries from the first five deliveries, including four leg byes, as they reached 16 for none.
Brendon McCullum (four) managed a boundary from his first ball too when Yuvraj Singh dropped him at slip off Coulter-Nile. But he fell next ball as a top edge was held on to by Yuvraj.
That checked things slightly, although Chennai still managed 10 runs each from that over and the next one, before Coulter-Nile struck again at the end of his next over when he cleaned up Suresh Raina for four.
Smith and Du Plessis took their side past 50 in the fifth over as the home side began to rebuild.
And just as the partnership began to flourish, it was ended on 33 when Imran Tahir (1-27) had the West Indian caught by Coulter-Nile at deep midwicket.
Du Plessis, South Africa’s T20 captain, added a further 29 with new batsman Ravindra Jadeja, before countryman Duminy dismissed him thanks in part to a good catch by Shreyas Iyer taken above his head on the ropes.
That was 100 for four in the 13th over as Chennai’s ever-reliable India captain Dhoni walked in. But three overs later Jadeja was comfortably stumped by Chidhambaram Gautam for 17 at the other end as more trouble brewed.
Domnic Joseph bowled Dwayne Bravo for one with 20 balls to go, although some good final over hitting by Dhoni at least gave his side a sniff - the skipper eventually taken out by Coulter-Nile in the final over. Delhi then reached 15 for none in the third over before Nehra struck a critical double blow. First he had Gautam caught by Bravo at mid-on for four, with fellow opener Mayank Agarwal (15) following after edging behind to wicketkeeper Dhoni.
It was 20 for two at that stage and 19 runs later an attempted heave by rookie Iyer (seven) was skied to extra cover where Du Plessis held on, handing Nehra his third scalp.
Morkel and Kedar Jadhav took the Daredevils past 50 in the eighth over with runs proving difficult to come by.
At the halfway stage it was still only 67 for three thanks to some tight bowling by Ishwar Pandey, Mohit Sharma and Ravi Ashwin. But the 48-run partnership ended with Jadhav offering a straightforward chance to Jadeja at point for 20. From there, Delhi never looked like winning and Chennai sensed that as Yuvraj (nine), Duminy (five) and Coulter-Nile (five) all fell cheaply.  
It was only until Morkel, who reached 50 in 43 balls, went for it in the final over that the chase was re-ignited. Six were needed from the final delivery, but Morkel’s shot fell just short of the long-off fence. “Unbelievable,” said Daredevils’ captain Duminy. “Game of small margins. Proud of the boys. We will take a lot of learning out today. We just kept saying the gameplan is to keep taking wickets. They came hard at us, but we kept taking wickets.”