Chennai Super Kings’ power-packed batting line-up failed to chase down a target of 163 despite Ambati Rayudu’s flurry (50 off 29 balls) at the top of the order – falling well short on 128-6.
Harshal Patel was the chief architect of Delhi’s fourth win of the tournament – striking unbeaten 36 off 16 balls before bagging 1-24, including the wicket of Rayudu.
This defeat leaves MS Dhoni & Co. two points behind table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad, although both teams have already qualified for the play-offs.
CSK were cautious to begin with, collecting just 22 runs off the first five overs.
Rayudu cut loose in the following over, smashing pacer Avesh Khan for 22 runs courtesy three sixes and a four.
Rayudu maintained his rich vein of form with his third fifty of the tournament. He departed the very next ball to leave CSK at 70 for two in 10 overs, needing 93 off the last 60 balls.
Suresh Raina (15 off 18), dropped by wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant on the first ball he faced, did not make it count as Nepal spinner Lamichhane had him caught at deep midwicket.
Skipper MS Dhoni (17 off 23) could not do the finishing job for his team which never really got going in the chase.
Earlier, Delhi made a decent start despite the loss of Prithvi Shaw for 17 only to collapse from 78-1 to 97-5 after the dismissal of captain Shreyas Iyer, bowled by Lungi Ngidi (2-14).
Key man Rishabh Pant (38 off 26) followed his skipper back just three runs later, caught at third man by Dwayne Bravo off Ngidi and the clatter continued as Glenn Maxwell (5) was cleaned bowled by Ravindra Jadeja while attempting a reverse sweep.
Vijay Shankar (36 not out off 28) stopped the rot, putting on an unbroken stand of 65 for the sixth wicket with Patel, who struck four sixes off the last over from Bravo.
Here’s how fans on Twitter reacted to the match:
Well played #HarshalPatel & @vijayshankar260, Congratulations @DelhiDaredevils on the victory #DDvCSK
— Rajeev Shukla (@ShuklaRajiv) May 18, 2018
Beauty of the @IPL any team can beat any team. Despite a poor season this win will mean much for @DelhiDaredevils well bowled against a top @ChennaiIPL side.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) May 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/KaranArjunSm/status/997670703091593222
Only the second time in #IPL2018 that CSK have failed to chase down a target. The other loss was against KXIP that they lost by 4 runs.#DDvCSK #CSKvDD #IPL
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) May 18, 2018
While the focus is on #CSK’s lack of bowling prowess in the death overs, the form of Billings and a little underwhelming Raina (he’s expected to have clocked 400 by now) mustn’t go unnoticed. #DDvCSK #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/TiimesHow/status/997540729684606976
https://twitter.com/SirJadejaaaa/status/997540460099858434
Highest number of 6s conceded by bowler in IPL 2018:
24 – Dwayne Bravo
22 – Kuldeep Yadav
20 – Mohammed Siraj
19 – Umesh Yadav
18 – Rashid Khan#DDvCSK— FoMA Ramteke (@fomaramteke) May 18, 2018
Dwayne Bravo with the ball in death overs (16-20) in #IPL:
Till 2017: Avg 17.61, Econ 9.04, A six every 16.5 balls
in 2018: Avg 47.83, Econ 11.71, A six every 7 balls#DDvCSK #CSKvDD #IPL2018— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) May 18, 2018
#DDvCSK Dwayne bravo you can't survive bowling slow balls everytime!!
— Thala Academy of Test batting (@immeenus) May 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/Narrendarmodi/status/997541750389465088
DD beat CSK by 34 runs #IPL2018 #DDvCSK #CSKvDD pic.twitter.com/gjNvKDFaYx
— CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) May 19, 2018
@ChennaiIPL lost the match to @DelhiDaredevils and Thala Dhoni didn't finished in style just because, there were no bowlers like Siraj, Negi, Sundar & Anderson in tonight's match 😂#DDvCSK
— Ashraf Afridi (@Ashraf_afridi10) May 18, 2018
https://twitter.com/_Sarath_Menon/status/997546101807894528
