JOIN USIPL 2020: CSK at 179/4 after 20 overs against Delhi Capitals
Faf Du Plessis hit his fourth half-century of the season before Ambati Rayudu produced another useful cameo as a collective batting effort propelled Chennai Super Kings to 179 for four against Delhi Capitals in their IPL match, here on Saturday.
Du Plessis (58) added 87 runs with Shane Watson (36) after early fall of Sam Curran (0), setting it up nicely for the CSK.
Rayudu hit 45 off 25 balls while Ravindra Jadeja hit four sixes in his fiery 33-run knock as CSK collected runs in the last three overs. One of Jadeja's sixes landed on the road outside the stadium.
They added 50 runs in 3.3 overs during their unbeaten fifth-wicket partnership.
While Watson relied on safe ground-strokes considering the sluggish track Du Plessis did not hesitate to improvise, playing a lot of scoop shots. He pulled the short ones with ease.
Young pacer Tushar Deshpande bowled a tight line with decent speed and was rewarded when Curran, without measuring the bowler, swung his arms but just managed a top-edge that was taken by Anrich Nortje (2/44).
The ball was stopping a bit on the slow Sharjah wicket but after four quiet overs, Du Plessis creamed off 14 runs from Nortje's first over, hitting his compatriot for a six and two fours.
Watson, using his experience, got some quick runs by placing the ball instead of going after the bowlers. His handling of the both pacers and spinners was sensible as the Australian kept the scoreboard moving.
Du Plessis completed his fifty with a single of Nortje but Watson was castled by the South African in the next ball.
The Capitals batsmen did not let off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin take advantage of the slow surface, taking easy runs off him.
Rabada sent back Du Plessis while Nortje got rid of rival skipper MS Dhoni (3) but Rayudu and Jadeja helped the side reach a competitive total.