Rishabh Pant kept calm and motivated the boys throughout: Shikhar Dhawan

Bowlers could have bowled better, execution wasn't right: MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had a forgettable start to the IPL 2021 campaign after they lost the first match against Delhi Capitals in Mumbai. Chasing 189, DC went over the line by 7 wickets and 8 balls to spare. DC openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan gave a fine start to the team during the chase as the two batsmen notched up 138 runs for the first wicket and hammered the CSK bowlers all around the park. The Chennai captain MS Dhoni pointed out that the dew was a major factor in the later stage of the game but admitted that the bowlers could have bowled better. "A lot depended on dew, and that factor played on our mind from the start and that's why we wanted to get as many runs as possible," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. "We could have bowled slightly better, and if batters are hitting you over the fields, that's fair enough. The execution of the bowlers was not very nice as they were boundary balls bowled often,” he further added. Both Shaw and Dhawan scored individual half-centuries during the course. While Shaw continued his aggressive display of batting and smashed 72 off 38 balls, Dhawan held the other end well and scored a 54-ball 85. Rishbah Pant who was captaining the side for the time remained unbeaten at 15 off 12. Earlier, CSK posted 188/7 in 20 overs, courtesy a fine half-century from Suresh Raina who was making a comeback to the cash-rich league for CSK in this match after missing the previous edition and a late surge from Sam Curran who scored 34 off 15 before getting out eventually. DC will now play Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai on April 15 while CSK will take on Punjab Kings on April 16 at the same venue.

MS Dhoni fined for slow over-rate

Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni was fined 12 lakhs for his team maintaining a slow over-rate during the match against Delhi Capitals in Mumbai. "As it was his team's first offence of the season under the IPL's Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Mr Dhoni was fined Rs 12 lakh," stated an IPL media release. CSK had a disappointing start to the IPL 2021 campaign after DC chased down a target of 189 runs by 7 wickets and more than an over to spare. DC’s openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan began the proceedings in a steady manner as the two players put on 138 for the first wicket. Shaw continued his lethal style of aggressive batting and hammered a 38-ball 72 that included three maximums and 9 boundaries. Dhawan held the other end and notched up 85 off 54 during the chase. Shardul Thakur scalped a couple of wickets for CSK while Dwayne Bravo got one. Earlier, CSK lost some early wickets and were left struggling at 7/2 when Moeen Ali and Suresh Raina chipped in with some runs. Moeen who made his debut for CSK scored 36 in 24 balls while Raina who had missed the IPL 2020 in UAE made a fine comeback in the cash-rich league with a half-century. CSK eventually put 188/7 in 20 overs riding on a late surge from Sam Curran who smacked 34* off 15 deliveries. Chris Woakes and Avesh Khan picked up a couple of wickets each for DC while R Ashwin and Tom Curran had a wicket apiece to their name. This was the first time when Rishabh Pant was captaining in the IPL and the wicket-keeper batsman had a positive start to his new role. Pant was earlier handed over the captaincy after Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the IPL 2021 with injury. Iyer had injured himself during the England series at home.

IPL 2021: This is not a tuk-tuk Chennai

The Indian Premier League in its two-day journey so far has thrown us surprises aplenty including a revamp Chennai Super kings that’s now ready to showcase its ‘spark’ and overcome its lack of intent, clearly evident in the last season. In the very first game, the team selection, the shot selection and the formation of the batting lineup were signs enough that the men in yellow want to boss the game and shed their ‘tuk-tuk’ image of the last two seasons. Boundary hitting CSK is back Chennai had a slow start and looked to go back to being their 2020 self, making no effort to get on the bullet train until and unless it was very much necessary. However, once settled the English import Moeen Ali started to shed the defensive garb, hitting Ravichandran Ashwin for sixes that looked easy on the eyes. Suresh Raina, the comeback man for the Yellow Army was brilliant as well, hitting 54 off 36 balls, giving the much-needed boost to the scorecard. In total, the Super Kings hit 26 boundaries, their highest count since the last 41 games. The change in approach was also visible from the fact that in the middle phase (7-15 overs), MS Dhoni’s men hit eight sixes, three more than their highest ever in the last season. Higher strike-rates, right batsmen at the right order In the entire last season, all the CSK batsmen had very low strike rates except for Ravindra Jadeja who hit runs at 171.85 per hundred. Barring him, there was none who went past 140, with their second-best being 131.91 by Sam Curran. In the first game of this season though, all the batsmen, who faced more than 10 balls, scored at a rate higher than 140, which should be the ideal way out. Sam Curran though went beserk in the 19th over and finished his innings with a strike rate of 226.67. Ali, Jadeja and Raina, all scored at a rate in excess of 150 as well. The credit of this should also go to the change in the batting lineup introduced by the CSK management. Moeen Ali, brought in for his six-hitting abilities was sent at number three just as Faf du Plessis fell, showing that the team meant business and wanted quick runs even if wickets fall, once again the ideal approach in T20s, mastered by the England team at the international level. The ball that Dhoni himself got out was not a wicket-taking one, but the frame of mind that MSD came in with, suggested that he didn’t want to do any more ‘tuk-tuk’. He pulled a ball but was betrayed by age probably, which couldn’t get his bat to the shot as early as it should have, dragging on the ball to his wickets, instead of sending it in the stands, which a Dhoni of three years ago would have done with ease. But the main point of citation remains intact that CSK mean business and they are going to go after the bowling attacks of every team this season. Batting deep helps the cause The approach that CSK has adapted is also fuelled by the confidence that they have in their batting lineup. They bat almost till 11 with Dwayne Bravo at nine and Shardul Thakur at 10 and there is no need to tell how dangerous they both could be. For instance, Thakur, in the recently concluded India- England limited-overs series, scored a 21 ball 30 and a four-ball 10. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy too, he played a knock of 57 ball 92 against Himachal Pradesh, suggesting how good he is at manoeuvring that long handle. Deepak Chahar has the best score of 55 in T20s and two cities in First Class to his name. It is this deep batting ability that is pushing Chennai to change their line of attack and instead of waiting for the opportune moment, they are now going all guns blazing right from the start. Suresh Raina's comeback a big boost Ravichandran Ashwin was hit for his third-worst figure in his entire IPL career of 14 years (conceded 47 in four overs). On top of that, the assault was led by two left-handers, the kind of batsmen Ashwin champions himself over. To make matters, even damaging, he was hit by a Suresh Raina, who last touched the bat in a competitive game, way back in January this year. Raina’s innings was a turning point for the Chennai batting lineup. Starting cautiously (22 from 19 balls), he went from strength to strength and hit the last 12 balls that he faced for 27 runs. An innings of that sort was bound to change the complexion of the game and it did, helping CSK reached 188, a par total by all means of imagination on the Wankhede wicket. Lessons from the loss Although Chennai lost the game to Delhi Capitals by seven wickets and in a humiliating manner as well. But the way they approached their batting showed that they are trying to shed that image of a low scoring side. Things didn’t go well for them in the second inning where they dropped catches (three of them), bowlers didn’t bowl the right areas (didn’t bowl even a single shoulder-high bouncer to Prithvi Shaw). Knowing Dhoni and Stephen Fleming, they are men driven by a process more than results. Thus an attacking Chennai, that bats deep, looks to be the order of the tournament for all the Yellow Army fans. And as far as the modern-day game is concerned, it looks like the right approach as well. The only change needed is the onboarding of a 'hit the deck' fast bowler in place of Bravo, just to bring variety in the attack as all three pacers look the same.

IPL 2021 | CSK vs DC: What Experts said as Dhawan-Shaw stamped authority at Wankhede

It was a walk in the park sort of day for the Delhi Capitals in the opener as they dismantled Chennai Super Kings bowling line-up to register a thumping victory in their opening encounter of IPL 2021. Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan broke no sweat at all in chasing down 189 as the team comfortably reached the target with one over to spare. While Shaw was on a roll hitting every shot in the batsman’s playbook, Dhawan played the situation, giving as much strike as possible to the maverick that was Prithvi Shaw. While the Mumbaikar scored 38 balls 72, the Delhi-born reached his calculated 84 off 54 balls. Captains' Viewpoints Captaining a major team like Delhi Capitals for the first time, Rishabh Pant reacted to the win very calmly saying that they never went after the net run rate even after being in a great position in the chase. “No, there was no effort for the NRR. Prithvi and Shikhar did well for us in the PP. They kept it simple and looked for boundaries,” he said. Delhi were 151 for 1 at the end of the 15th over, and with just 38 needed off the last 30 balls, they could have chased it down early. Talking about the butterflies in the stomach with the first day at a new job, the 23-year-old agreed that he did get nervous in the middle phase. “In the middle phase, I was under some pressure. But we did well towards the end.” After conceding 136 in the 15 overs, Delhi came back strong and if it wasn’t for the last Tom Curran over in which he was tonked for 23 runs by brother Sam, the Capitals would have restricted Super Kings to under 180. Saying that it was very special walking out for the toss with MS Dhoni, Pant revealed that it took courage to back the players that they had got, instead of lamenting over not having Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada, their best bowlers from the last season. “We were thinking as to what we will do without Nortje and Rabada and I thought we had to do with the options we have,” Pant said. MS Dhoni, the losing skipper, who had a horrific game with the bat and also as a skipper, blamed the dew and poor execution from bowlers for this loss. “A lot depended on dew, and that factor played on our mind from the start and that's why we wanted to get as many runs as possible. The batters did a good job to reach 188,” Dhoni said in the post-match interview. “The execution of the bowlers was poor and there were boundary balls that they bowled, “ continued the 39-year-old, who himself got out for a second-ball duck. “..but the bowlers would have learned and they will apply that in future games,” he further hoped. Conceding that Delhi were a better bowling side, Dhoni said, “Their (Delhi) bowlers bowled a great line when it was stopping and seaming a bit.” Expert Opinion Shaw, who, before coming to the IPL had impressed one and all with his batting display in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, was the apple of the eye of the expert’s on Twitter. Dhawan too received accolades for being neck to neck with Shaw in stroke-making. Veteran cricket journalist and columnist Ayaz Memon summed up the game well picking out the good and bad from it very cleanly. Aakash Chopra on the other hand praised the Delhi team which was without the services of their best and still came out on top. Vimal Kumar, a broadcast cricket journalist picked out the only fault in the Delhi Capitals unit, their spinners, two of the best in the business- Amit Mishra and Ravichandran Ashwin going for plenty. Vikrant Gupta was of the opinion that DC openers Shaw and Dhawan had taken over the game from the CSK in the first 10 overs only, letting the team relax and chase the total down easily. Popularly known as the Cricket Geek, Peter Miller, termed Dhawan-Shaw the best opening pair aesthetically and it did fit well today considering the kind of shots they played. Then there were those tweets, which should be called Wasim Jaffer special. Witty, charming humorous and touching. Foreigner Indian cricketer Rohan Gavaskar too made it to this list. While the Capitals will next meet Rajasthan Royals on April 15, Chennai will take on Punjab Kings in the very next game to try and come back from this humiliation at Wankhede.