PL 2025, CSK vs DC SYNOPSIS: After KL Rahul’s impressive 77 took them to 183 for 6, all-round effort from bowlers allowed Delhi Capitals to give Chennai Super Kings another hiding at their own den
For a team that once used to stand out with their planning and preparation, they look every bit listless at the moment, unsure when and where their win will come. Like the game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last week, this was another outing where Chennai’s chase ended even before it began. After their defeat to RCB, their head coach Stephen Fleming made a startling admission that they are unable to read the pitch with the black soil surfaces not being to their liking over the last two seasons.
For Saturday’s afternoon fixture against Delhi Capitals, they got a red-soil pitch which offered 2.4 degree turn, which was way higher than the tournament average of 1.9 this season. And bowling first, none of their three spinners – Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Noor Ahmad – could make most of it as they conceded 76 runs in 8 overs and accounted for just two wickets as KL Rahul came up with a top-class innings of 77. That none of the three spinners even finished their quota of overs summed up the day for Chennai as Delhi made it three wins out of three.
Crumbling fortress
There was an eerie feeling as the sun set and the lights came on at Chepauk. Once the home to a proud empire with a hard-to-breach fortress, it is now nowhere close to what it used to be. In successive seasons, Chennai Super Kings have lost that edge at home and early into this edition, opposition are dismantling that fortress brick by brick. It is hard to recollect a season where Chennai were outplayed in successive matches at Chepauk as they have been this year. With three more games lined-up at home this April, unless they find the right combination that will ace these conditions, they may not be alive in the tournament when May begins.
Chasing 184 for a win, the chase was over once again by the time the powerplay ended. The form of their openers has been of particular concern for CSK and despite Devon Conway coming in for his first outing of the season, it hardly made any difference. Their top-three that includes Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Conway all departed in the powerplay, and once Shivam Dube too fell in the 10th over, it brought the curtains down on the chase. From there on, it was all about how far Chennai would reduce the margin of loss and see if Dhoni can conjure some magic. It was 26-run loss, but truth to be told, it felt a lot bigger.
Break-through struggles
If their performances with the bat in the powerplay has been below par, the story is not so different for CSK with the ball as well. Barring their opening game against Mumbai Indians, where they managed three big strikes in the first six overs, Chennai have to struggle hard for wickets with the new ball. With exception to Khaleel Ahmed, Chennai are short on arsenal when it comes to options with the new ball. With Matheesha Pathirana reserved for the later part of the innings, they went in pursuit of Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar before being outbid. And Nathan Ellis, Jamie Overton and Sam Curran not being effective in the powerplay, at some stage Chennai had to turn to one of their uncapped seamers.
And for this afternoon fixture, they went in with Mukesh Choudhary who since his breakthrough season in 2022 has been in the wilderness. Despite having the numbers in Syed Mushtaq Ali, it was still a brave call to include him, for if the conditions don’t aid movement, he can be largely ineffective. Last two seasons where he played just a lone game, he bowled only 3 overs, conceding 52 without taking a wicket. On his return this season, he had another forgetful outing, conceding 19 in the second over as Abhishek Porel took him to the cleaners. In all, he conceded seven boundaries and two sixes as his four overs cost Chennai 50.
The inability of the other seamers to provide ample support to Khaleel – who removed Jake Fraser-McGurk in the first over meant, Chennai once again turned to R Ashwin. It is a role that he has delivered with aplomb in the past. But this season, the 38-year-old has struggled to find the right lengths and line straightaway. He started by giving away only 8 runs to end the powerplay, but his overall figures this season in the first six overs reads: 4-0-58-0. Like Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Rajasthan Royals, Delhi too got a good start, making 51 for the loss of just one wicket. With such a start, unless their spinners don’t make regular inroads, Chennai were bound to give their batters huge totals to chase.
KL takes flight
Enough has been said about how Rahul has had to constantly adjust to the frequent shuffles in the batting order. This season, with Delhi making their intentions clear about slotting him in the middle-order, Rahul would have hoped to fit seamlessly in that role. Instead, with Faf du Plessis being unfit for the game, Delhi would go back to Rahul to open the innings and he grabbed the opportunity with both hands scoring a high-class 77. That he got out in the final over and faced only 56 deliveries will definitely give space to cynical takes, but it was a knock through which he helped Delhi overcome the spin threat provided by the Chennai trio.
When purple cap holder Noor Ahmad came on, it was Rahul who got on the offensive, taking down Chennai’s trump card in the most brutal fashion. Thanks to his low trajectory, batsmen have found it hard to bring out the sweep against Noor. Yet, Rahul found a way to do. Crouching a bit lower than he usually does, he was quick to down on his knee and brought out a slog sweep that soared over mid-wicket. Then later on, he fetched a delivery that was wide of off-stump and swept it straight before slog-sweeping another boundary in the same over. With Rahul going steady, cameos from Axar Patel, Sameer Rizvi and Tristan Stubbs meant, Delhi effortlessly put up a matchwinning total.