CSK vs DC | Player Ratings - Shreyas Iyer’s valliant fight in vain as Delhi Capitals lose to Chennai Super Kings by 80 runs

05/01/2019

It was a heart-breaking loss for Delhi Capitals after Chennai Super Kings spinner compounded Suresh Raina-MS Dhoni’s efforts to restrict the visitors to 99 in a 180-run chase. Shreyas Iyer, however, put up a valiant effort, but as it turned out, it ended up all in despair for Delhi Capitals.

Prithvi Shaw (1/10): The Mumbaikar could make triumphs into a mere formality and at times, survival impossible, thanks to his propensity for the open space square of the wicket. His dismissal acted as a symbolic representation of a promised innings, curtained by over ambitiousness, when he drove Deepak Chahar straight to Suresh Raina’s hands.

Shikhar Dhawan (3/10): Shikhar Dhawan has been in fine form and one of the reasons Delhi has been on a winning spree in the second half of the league. He started right in that fashion - with the confidence of a man who was in the zone - but as the ball started turning a bit, he was found out and Harbhajan sent a classic off-break to outfox the southpaw. With the ball turning, it was never the right strategy to go about.

Shreyas Iyer (6/10): Shreyas Iyer is too good a batsman to be bogged down by any pressure, but even Sachin Tendulkar needed his support cast to do well in order to beat the opposition. Delhi’s batting order fell like a pack of cards in front of Tahir-Jadeja combo attack and Iyer was left with nothing other than going for the kill single-handedly. Unfortunately, he was dismissed for 44 thanks to yet another magic by MS Dhoni.

Rishabh Pant (2/10): More often than not, the choice of shot selection has been Rishabh Pant’s kryptonite and for all his majesty and big-hitting abilities, the basics can never go out of the way. He has proved that yet again as he hit Imran Tahir flat and hard despite the ball angling in regularly before that. It could’ve been the other way around had he given himself some time, considering the fact that the team had already lost Shaw and Dhawan.

Colin Ingram (1/10): It was a straight ball and Ingram was caught plumb by the master of arm-balls, Ravindra Jadeja. With his dismissal, Delhi’s hopes of securing a win ended instantly, and at the same time, it also exposed a big problem in Ingram’s batting as well ahead of the playoffs.

Sherfane Rutherford (2/10): When the main man fails, expect the sideshow to follow suit as well. It is in no way to demean the wonderful talent of Sherfane Rutherford, but the fact of the matter is he is way too inexperienced to do anything in the dire situation. He could manage only two off four balls, but his fielding set the ball rolling at least in the powerplay.

Axar Patel (5.5/10): The left-arm spinner, more often than not, acts as a holding bowler for Delhi Capitals and it is uncommon to see him concede more than 6 per over. Today, he essayed a completely different role and went for the kill from the outset. That helped as Faf du Plessis, after hitting a big six, attempted a similar one on the very next ball and was caught by Shikhar Dhawan at the boundary. It was refreshing to see Axar trying to stepping out of the common perception.

Jagadeesha Suchith (7.5/10): Playing his first IPL game in four years, Jagadeesha Suchith had a lot to prove and get himself back for the contention should CSK and DC face each other again in the first play-offs to be held at the same venue. He did that excellently by landing the ball in full and moving it just sufficient enough to trouble Faf du Plessis. His Shane Watson dismissal was a classic case of outfoxing a batsman with the mixture of turn and using natural angle. A good performance indeed.

Chris Morris (1/10): As Delhi brought Morris back in the team replacing Sandeep Lamichhane, the logic could’ve been to assist Trent Boult while exploiting cloud cover that had been on the city thanks to the incoming Cyclone Fani. However, Morris failed to give any control whatsoever and gave away as many as his negative tactics of regularly taking the ball away from full length resulted in him conceding as many as 47 runs in four overs.

Amit Mishra (7.5/10): Pretty much like Suchith’s arm-ball, Amit Mishra was successful in darting around a few sliders and the mixed-up googlies created problems for Faf du Plessis. In the helpful conditions of Chepauk, where cloud cover didn’t let dew to dominate the proceedings, Mishra was dangerous in the count that his balls were nearly untouchable at times.

Trent Boult(3/10): Well, the fragility of T20 format doesn’t allow any bowler to take their figure for granted until they bowl the very last ball of the innings is bowled. Trent Boult was having a good day until he came across MS Dhoni. The CSK’s master crowd puller brought his A game to the fore and smashed Boult for 21 runs in the last over to give his bowling figure a torrid look - 0/37. Not the kind of performance Boult would’ve wanted in his comeback game.