IPL 2020, CSK vs DC as it happened: CSK’s baffling approach sees them crash to huge defeat

CSK 131/7 (20 overs)

Delhi Capitals have beaten Chennai Super Kings by 44 runs. A huge, demoralising defeat if there ever was one. The chase never took off.

CSK 130/6 (19.3 overs)

Dhoni took it to the last over and then got out. He made 15 off 12 balls. Rabada gets the wicket.

CSK 127/5 (19 overs)

Almost over. This has been tough to watch. CSK might put this down to DC’s spinners doing well but they never looked to attack and they have paid the ultimate price.

CSK 121/5 (18 overs)

Sigh. Dhoni’s reading of the match, his awareness has always been top notch. It is sad to see CSK play this way and look so out of it.

CSK 113/5 (17.2 overs)

Faf nicks it to the keeper and Pant hold on! Rabada strikes and CSK lose their 5th wicket. Jadeja is in next.

Faf du Plessis c Pant b Rabada 43 (35)

CSK 101/4 (16 overs)

75 runs required from 24 balls. A task well and beyond CSK? Will Dhoni prove his critics wrong again with an astounding innings? Well, here we go.

CSK 98/4 (15.4 overs)

Jadhav has been trapped LBW by Nortje. Super pace and line. Dhoni walks in at 6!

CSK 95/3 (15 overs)

Chennai Super Kings need 81 runs in 30 balls and they only have themselves to blame. Even their Twitter handle agrees.

CSK 84/3 (14 overs)

In T20 cricket, one has to take the attack to the bowler and CSK just haven’t done that enough today. For a team filled with experienced cricketers, this reflects very poorly.

CSK 71/3 (13 overs)

Wow. An 11-run over. Imagine that. This is CSK we are talking about. Did someone finally tell them it was about time to play a few shots? Poor approach and it will not please their fans one bit.

CSK 60/3 (12 overs)

This is a bit of a farce now. DC are bowling well but someone has to go on the attack. Are they still trying to get their eye in?

CSK 53/3 (11 overs)

Get out or hit out. CSK have run out of all the other options. Just what are the batsmen in the middle thinking? What are they waiting for?

CSK 47/3 (10 overs)

RR is 12.90. But CSK are showing no urgency in the middle. Have they given up on it already? Someone has to go for his shots... they have to surely try something? Right now, they are calmly taking singles. Baffling approach.

CSK 44/3 (9.1 overs)

RUN OUT! It gets worse for CSK. Gaikwad has been run out in a bad mix-up. No run in it.

Ruturaj Gaikwad run out (Pant/Axar) 5(10)

CSK 44/2 (9 overs)

How much are CSK missing Rayudu and Raina? Both batsmen were capable of playing the spinners so well and hitting the big shots right away. This has been a struggle for them.

CSK 41/2 (8 overs)

Too slow from CSK. They are going to leave themselves a lot to do in the back 10. For DC, around this time, Shaw had started playing his shots. Who will do that for CSK?

CSK 34/2 (6 overs)

Vijay back in the hut too. Not the start CSK would have wanted. This is about the time when everyone starts wondering, at what position will Dhoni come out to bat?

CSK 23/1 (4.2 overs)

WICKET! Axar gets Watson again (6 times now in the IPL). The Aussie hit it well but straight Hetmyer in the deep. Big wicket this.

Watson c Hetmyer b Axar 14(16)

CSK 22/0 (4 overs)

A four off the first ball and then a big six off the fifth ball. Watson is starting to see the ball well. Danger signs, if you know what we mean. DC will want to send him back to the dugout quickly.

CSK 10/0 (3 overs)

Great over for DC by Nortje and it could have been better if Shaw had held on to a chance from Watson. A sitter!!! Will the big Aussie make DC pay for this mistake?

CSK 9/0 (2 overs)

Axar Patel, presumably because of his brilliant record against Watson, into the attack and it all went according to plan until the last ball when Vijay hit him for four straight down the ground.

CSK 2/0 (1 over)

Vijay played through the over and didn’t get much out of it. A good start will ease things considerably for CSK even though skipper Dhoni likes to take it to the very end.

Innings break

Before we get into the CSK innings: Ravindra Jadeja is the first spinner to concede 40+ runs in three successive IPL games.

DC 175/3 (20 overs)

A big 14-run over allows DC to post a competitive total. Dew will be a factor when CSK come out to bat. Have DC got enough?

88 for the first ten overs.
87 for the back ten.

DC 161/3 (19 overs)

WICKET! Iyer edged the last ball to Dhoni, who took a wonderful diving catch off Curran. DC have got the second half of the innings horribly wrong.

Shreyas Iyer c Dhoni b Sam Curran 26 (22)

DC 157/2 (18 overs)

31 off 21 for Pant. The left-hander is starting to hit them well and one big over could make a huge difference for DC here. Iyer is hitting it well too. But can they get the big over?

DC 146/2 (17 overs)

Some lovely shots being played by Iyer. He does make batting look easy when he is in form. Still, CSK are hanging in there. What is a good total here?

DC 134/2 (16 overs)

A needless overthrow for four runs (by the bowler Curran himself) got the over off to a bad start and DC made the most of it.

DC 124/2 (15 overs)

One shot by Pant stood out in the over. He leant into the drive and sent the ball packing to the boundary. No power, pure timing. If he can do this, why does he need to slog! A strategic timeout has been taken.

DC 112/2 (14 overs)

The two wickets will mean DC will have the rebuild a little here. CSK dragging it back.

DC 103/2 (12.2 overs)

WICKET! Shaw has been stumped by Dhoni off Chawla. The opener stepped out to the leg-spinner but failed to get to the pitch off the ball and it trickled off his pads towards Dhoni. The batsman was stranded down the wicket and Dhoni completed an easy stumping. A superb knock comes to an end.

Prithvi Shaw st Dhoni b Chawla 64 (43, 9x4, 6x1)

DC 102/1 (12 overs)

DC have sent Pant up the order. Clearly, he will have the license to go a little crazy here. But what approach will he choose to take?

DC 94/1 (10.4 overs)

WICKET! Chawla gets CSK the breakthrough they so badly needed. Dhawan’s reverse hit was poorly executed. 35 off 27 balls but he played his part in the partnership and DC have the base they needed to truly kick off now.

Dhawan lbw b Chawla 35 (27)

DC 88/0 (10 overs)

Prithvi Shaw gets to his fifth IPL fifty. It has taken him 35 balls and he is only now starting to get going. The show is just starting.

DC 71/0 (8.4 overs)

Shaw (47 off 32) has been in control today. He hasn’t tried to go for his shots too early. He has let the game come to him and once it does, he has all the shots in the book. Strategic break taken.

DC 62/0 (8 overs)

With a six and a four in the Jadeja over, Dhawan finally gets going. DC have the base – but now they need someone to really start going for it. Only the second time Delhi have put on fifty run for the first wicket in their history.

DC 49/0 (7 overs)

Finally, some acceleration aided by a very poor effort by Chahar on the boundary line. He tried to stop the ball with his foot and it didn’t go according to plan. Shaw has 38 off 27 and he is making sure DC are in the picture for now.

DC 36/0 (6 overs)

First Powerplay done. DC have just 36 on the board. The small consolation is that they have lost no wicket but does that matter? Dhawan has 6 off 12 balls. One of them needed to go for the shots. A wasted opportunity?

DC 30/0 (5 overs)

Steady. Too steady for T20 cricket? Hazlewood has bowled 2 overs for 7 runs. Brilliant stuff by the Aussies. Line and length is working today.

DC 27/0 (4 overs)

Prithvi Shaw has hogged the strike but he hasn’t quite made the most of it. The right-hander has hit four but lots of dot balls have been served up too. Steady start by DC but they would perhaps liked a few more runs on the board.

DC 15/0 (3 overs)

Another brilliant over for CSK. Dhoni got Hazlewood into the attack and the Australian delivered with a solid over – just four runs off it. After the two fours in the first over, the CSK bowlers have given nothing away.

DC 11/0 (2 overs)

Superb over by Curran. Shaw wasn’t quite comfortable with the left-armer’s angle. Just two runs in the over and one of them was a leg-bye.

DC 9/0 (1 over)

Shaw is off and running with two back-to-back fours. Chahar is trying to pitch the ball up and get it to swing. That is the only way he is going to get a wicket. But for now, Shaw was too good.

7.15 pm: Shreyas Iyer at the toss – “The boys are really motivated and we are in a great mindset. I would have chosen to field as well because in the last match dew played a great part. Ashwin, I feel is doing pretty well, but we wanted to give him rest for two-three games so that he feels better.”

7.11 pm: MS Dhoni at the toss – “I think we need to respect the conditions and the fact that dew will play a part. Maybe the teams batting second so far in the tournament have made mistakes to not win. As far as my batting position goes, I’ll do whatever is best for the team.”

7.06 pm: Playing XIs –

Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shimron Hetmyer, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Kagiso Rabada, Amit Mishra, Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan.

Chennai Super Kings: Murali Vijay, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Sam Curran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Josh Hazlewood, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla.

7.02 pm: Josh Hazlewood comes in for Lungi Ngidi. For DC, Amit Mishra replaces Ashwin (giving him a break for a few matches says Shreyas) and Avesh Khan in place for Mohit Sharma.

7.00 pm: MS Dhoni wins the toss and opts to bowl first. “Respecting conditions. Maybe sides that have batted second have made mistakes!”

6.58 pm: Have you voted yet?

6.57 pm: A look at the head-to-head record. Worth noting DC lost all three matches against CSK in IPL 2019.

6.54 pm: All eyes on Dhoni today, of course. Will we see him respond in style?

MS Dhoni’s strange tactics against Rajasthan Royals kickstart a heated debate

Read Scroll.in’s full coverage of IPL 2020 here.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s batting position will be an area of interest when Chennai Super Kings look to pick up pieces against a confident Delhi Capitals in their third Indian Premier League match on Friday.

The defeat against Rajasthan Royals on a belter of a batting wicket at Sharjah could be primarily attributed to a poor show by their spinners along with a disastrous 20th over, but the batsmen can’t absolve themselves completely.

For Delhi Capitals, winning a cliffhanger in the Super Over against Kings XI Punjab right at the onset would have given them a lot of confidence even though Ravichandran Ashwin’s probable absence after a shoulder injury could force them to reshuffle their bowling line-up.

The head-to-head record is in CSK’s favour but Delhi have turned the corner in recent years and the statistic is hugely misleading.

Read the full preview HERE