IPL 2021: CSK vs DC - Capitals put on a clinical show to thump CSK by 7 wickets; Shaw and Dhawan shine with a brilliant opening stand

As if batting and wicket-keeping comparisons weren’t enough, Rishabh Pant squares off against veteran MS Dhoni in first match as a captain of his IPL career.

Delhi Capitals (DC) lock horns with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Match 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai without some of their key players. While Shreyas Iyer is nursing a shoulder injury after a fatal dive during India-England series, South African pace duo of Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada are serving their mandatory seven-day quarantine period after arriving from home series versus Pakistan.

On the other hand, The CSK batting will rely a lot on Faf du Plessis but the return of Suresh Raina, who missed the last season, will be a boost for the three-time champions as they look to do better this time than the seventh place finish they got last season.

Rishabh Pant (captain/wicketkeeper), Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith, Sam Billings, Shimron Hetmyer, Ishant Sharma, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Umesh Yadav, Tom Curran, Avesh Khan, Lalit Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Ripal Patel, Lukman Hussain Meriwala, M Siddharth, Marcus Stoinis, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Chris Woakes, Vishnu Vinod (wicketkeeper), Aditya Tare (wicketkeeper)

MS Dhoni (captain/wicketkeeper), Suresh Raina, Narayan Jagadeesan, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KM Asif, Karn Sharma, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Faf du Plessis, Shardul Thakur, Mitchell Santner, Dwayne Bravo, Lungi Ngidi, Sam Curran, Ravindra Jadeja, Imran Tahir, Robin Uthappa, Moeen Ali, K Gowtham, Cheteshwar Pujara, M.Harisankar Reddy, K.Bhagath Varma, C Hari Nishaanth, R Sai Kishore

Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant † (c), Shimron Hetmyer, Marcus Stoinis, Chris Woakes, Tom Curran, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Avesh Khan

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c)†, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar

Delhi Capitals won the toss and elected to field first!

Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis at the crease, Chris Woakes to open the bowling for Delhi Capitals

Avesh Khan to du Plessis, OUT LBW! a duck in CSK's season-opener.

Ruturaj Gaikwad (5 runs off 8 balls) c Dhawan b Woakes

Suresh Raina 4* (5) Moeen Ali* 0 (2)

Chris Woakes 2-0-8-1 Avesh Khan 1-0-2-1

10 runs in R Ashwin's over

TWO consecutive boundaries

Suresh Raina 15* (15) Moeen Ali* 20 (16)

Ravichandran Ashwin 2-0-19-0 Tom Curran1-0-3-0

Moeen Ali launches Ashwin for two straight sixes

Moeen mistimes the ball as he goes for third consecutive six. Caught by Shikhar Dhawan just outside the 30-yard circle

Moeen Ali c Dhawan b Ashwin 36 (24b 4x4 2x6) SR: 150

CSK dealing in sixes here

Two massive sixes on Amit Mishra's bowling

Suresh Raina* 43 (29) Ambati Rayudu* 11 (8)

Amit Mishra 3-0-27-0 Ravichandran Ashwin 4-0-47-1

Rayudu hoists the waist high full toss over square leg!

Raina brings up a fine fifty with a six in comeback knock!

Suresh Raina* 50 (32) Ambati Rayudu* 18 (12)

Marcus Stoinis 1-0-15-0 Amit Mishra 3-0-27-0

Ambati Rayudu c Dhawan b Curran 23 (16b 1x4 2x6) SR: 143.75

Suresh Raina run out (Woakes/†Pant) 54 (36b 3x4 4x6) SR: 150

Avesh Khan knocks MS Dhoni's castle. Dhoni tries pull to only drag it back onto the stumps.

MS Dhoni b Avesh Khan 0 (2b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0

Curran waits for the short ball and pulls it away for 4!

Apart from a last ball four, Tom Curran bowls a brilliant over

Avesh Khan in the middle of a very good spell. 11 dot balls so far

Avesh Khan - 3.5-0-22-2

Only 23 off his four over with 2 wickets

23 runs in the 19th over

Sam Curran* 29 (12) Ravindra Jadeja* 21 (14)

Tom Curran 4-0-40-1 Avesh Khan 4-0-23-2

Sam Curran playing a blinder!

While defending the score might prove to be tough for three time champions on a good Wankhede wicket, their middle order comprising of Moeen Ali, Suresh Raina and late flourish by Sam Curran ensured the Chennai Super Kings score a par total after stuttering at 7-2 in 2.1 over

Prithvi Shaw* 7 (5) Shikhar Dhawan* 9 (7)

Sam Curran1-0-7-0 Deepak Chahar1-0-9-0

Shaw launches Chahar over mid on

The Southpaw launches Curran straight into the DC dug-out after a boundary down the fine leg

17 off the Sam Curran over.

Prithvi Shaw* 19 (12) Shikhar Dhawan* 22 (12)

Sam Curran 2-0-24-0 Deepak Chahar 2-0-17-0

Three consecutive boundaries as Shaw displays a full range of shots

4 boundaries in Shardul Thakur's first over as he gets plummeted for 17 runs

7 off the Deepak Chahar over. DC moving on nicely. CSK need wickets

Shikhar Dhawan* 29 (18) Prithvi Shaw* 36 (18)

Deepak Chahar 3-0-24-0 Shardul Thakur 1-0-17-0

DC need 124 from 84 balls at requires rate of 8.86

Ravindra Jadeja comes in to bowl 7th over

End of Over 7: DC (70-0) MS Dhoni introduces Moeen Ali in attack

CSK cannot afford the drop. Shaw survives as Santner spills a regular catch

Delhi cruising at this stage as Shaw smashes another maximum on the fourth ball of the ninth over above long-on

Gaikwad does all the hardwork coming in from deep midwicket but can't hold on. Shaw survives off Moeen yet again

A fearless opening partnership between Shaw and Dhawan is taking the game away from CSK

Another big over as 14 runs come off it.

Shikhar Dhawan* 56 (37) Prithvi Shaw* 57 (29)

Shardul Thakur 2-0-31-0 Moeen Ali 2-0-18-0

Need 68 runs from 48 balls

Shikhar Dhawan* 62 (40) Prithvi Shaw* 59 (32)

Dwayne Bravo 1-0-8-0 Shardul Thakur 2-0-31-0

Four followed by a flat six over deep square leg

15 runs off it

Prithvi Shaw* 71 (36) Shikhar Dhawan* 64 (43)

Moeen Ali 3-0-33-0 Dwayne Bravo 1-0-8-0

Third time unlucky for Shaw. The right-hander goes after making well-made 72

Prithvi Shaw c Ali b Bravo 72 (38b 9x4 3x6) SR: 189.47

Deepak Chahar looking unimpressive as he leaks 12 off his last over. Finishes for 36-0 in his quota of 4 overs

Rishabh Pant* 6 (5) Shikhar Dhawan* 72 (48)

Deepak Chahar 4-0-36-0 Dwayne Bravo 2-0-11-1

7 from this over.

Bravo has been economical. The West Indian has given just 18 in his 3 overs taking crucial wicket of Prithvi Shaw

Two boundaries off first two balls

Shikhar Dhawan out for well-made 85

Shikhar Dhawan lbw b Thakur 85 (54b 10x4 2x6) SR: 157.4

1,1,2 in first 3 balls

DC marching on. 8 off 13

Remaining 3 runs just a formality

The right-hander holes out to Sam Curran at deep midwicket.

Marcus Stoinis c Curran b Thakur 14 (9b 3x4 0x6) SR: 155.55

A fitting end to the game as Pant wins it on his captaincy debut with MS Dhoni behind the stumps. Smacked towards the long-on fence.

Shaw:

Feeling good, everyone contributed and the wicket was good to bat on in the second innings. From Australia when I was dropped, I worked on the back-and-across [movement], I focused with Pravin sir as well. I think it's working quite well. I don't want to think about India spot. I have to move on, if something is wrong with my technique, no excuses.

Dhoni:

A lot depended on how much dew you would get. That's the reason we wanted to get as much runs as possible. The first few overs it was a bit tacky, and the batters did well to get to 188. Coming to bowling, we could have done better. The batters were hitting over the top, there was some boundary deliveries, where the execution wasn't nice. The bowlers will learn for the coming guys. As I said, you have to look ahead, especially when you have dew, you have to get extra runs. 7.30 start means opposition will have less amount of dew and we have to score those 15-20 runs extra. After that you need to get early wickets also. Well, if we keep consistently getting dew, 200 is something all teams have in mind. I felt both our openers got very good deliveries, and that can happen in a game like this.