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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have lost their second consecutive match in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 as they fell 44-runs short of the target set up by Delhi Capitals (DC) on Friday, September 25.
Batting first, Prithvi Shaw (64) and Shikhar Dhawan (35) started on a cautious note. They soon compensated for their conservative approach by launching the no-holds-barred assault on CSK’s spinners after the powerplay.
The duo combined 94 runs for the first wicket partnership before Dhawan fell prey to an innocuous delivery from Piyush Chawla in the eleventh over.
Later on, DC skipper Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant stitched a crucial partnership to guide their team to a challenging total of 175/3 in twenty overs.
CSK’s strategy backfires once again
Chasing the target, Murali Vijay and Shane Watson once again struggled to get in the groove straightaway. Both of them walked back to the pavilion inside the powerplay, leaving their team in the state of trouble.
Ruturaj Gaikwad failed to capitalise in his second match as well, while Kedar Jadhav’s efforts were certainly not enough to keep his team in the competition.
Faf du Plessis was the beacon of the light for the ‘Yellow Army’, but he didn’t get any support from the other end.
CSK’s batsmen once again left heaps of work to be done in the last phase of the game. But, Kagiso Rabada’s consistency and Anrich Nortje’s pace was just a bit too much for the likes of Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja.
In the end, the Dhoni-led side could only make 131/7 in twenty overs.
Meanwhile, former India cricketer Virender Sehwag took to Twitter to take a subtle dig at the batting woes of the franchise.
“Chennai ke batsman simply not getting going. Glucose chadwaake aana padega next match se batting karne,” tweeted Sehwag.
Chennai ke batsman simply not getting going. Glucose chadwaake aana padega next match se batting karne.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) September 26, 2020
Even CSK skipper Dhoni was disappointed with the lack of intent shown by top-order batsmen during the chase.
“We are lacking a bit of steam in the batting and that hurts. The run rate keeps on mounting after such slow starts and adds pressure, we need to figure that out. We need to come back with a clearer picture, looking at the combination,” said Dhoni in the post-match presentation.
