Returning six months after its normal scheduling the biggest domestic competition in cricket was worth the wait. Fascinating to describe it in one word.
Chennai Super Kings beat defending champions Mumbai Indians in the opening game of the Dream11 IPL after the fifties from Faf Du Plessis and Ambati Rayudu. After CSK, chasing 163, lost both their openers inside two overs, Du Plessis (58 runs off 44 balls) and Rayudu (71 runs off 48 balls) put on 115 for the third wicket and despite the latter falling with four overs remaining, an exciting cameo from England all-rounder Sam Curran (18 off 6 balls) put Chennai on the brink and Du Plessis got them over the line in the final over.
The young England International also took a key wicket of Quinton De Kock (33 balls off 20 balls) to help the Super Kings restrict Mumbai, who raced to 46 without loss inside five overs, to 162-9.
MS Dhoni put Mumbai in to bat and after an early onslaught from De Kock, who took a liking to fellow national teammate Lungi Ngidi, who removed Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma (12 runs) and Curran had De Kock caught at Midwicket three balls later.
Another CSK bowler who was just as deadly was Jadeja who took (2-42) hit back with two wickets in his final over and Ngidi Followed suit, going from (0-29) after two overs to (3-38) after four overs, as a number of late wickets prevented Mumbai building any sort of Momentum.
Rayudu played chief aggressor, with Du Plessis in what was the partnership of the night. For Faf, this saw him earn his 19th IPL fifty. It was a big question mark when MS Dhoni let Sam Curran come in at six instead of himself in that position, However, Curran soon showed why he had been promoted as he thrashed his second ball over midwicket for six more before he was superbly caught by Pattinson. Curran’s six-ball blitz had brought CSK to within 10 of their targets and after Dhoni successfully reviewed to overturn a caught behind the decision, it was left to Du Plessis to take back-to-back boundaries from Trent Boult’s bowling to seal the win. And how can I forget the superb jump man fielding from Faf Du Plessis? What a night it was for the Protea international.
He was not alone though on Sunday, Rabada stole the show in a super over decider of the game. When Delhi Capitals and Kings XI Punjab tied, they game at 158/8 after 19 overs. Marcus Stoinis of Delhi Capitals was Man of The Match after spearheading a stunning late rally for the Capitals after they were struggling at 100-6 with just three overs remaining, but they established control as Kings XI were reduced to 55-5 at the halfway mark of their reply in their innings.
Nevertheless, Mayank Agarwal gave an inspired winning for the Kings Punjab with an IPL best of 89 from 60 balls which seemed to be the match decider, until they failed to secure the single needed from their remaining three deliveries.
Despite his heroic innings, Agarwal did not feature with the bat in the Super Over and Rabada showed his class, removing KL Raul for two before clean bowling Pooran who suffered the indignity of being dismissed for two ducks in the match.
#SkipperShreyas 🤝🏼 #MondayMotivation 💙#DCvKXIP #Dream11IPL #IPL2020 #YehHaiNayiDilli @ShreyasIyer15 @MStoinis @KagisoRabada25 pic.twitter.com/JZFu1NhNkj
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) September 21, 2020
With three runs needed by Delhi Capitals in their innings in the super over they sealed the deal with a four from the first delivery to win the game. Next up for the Delhi Capitals is a meeting with CSK on Friday. Look at it as Rabada vs Ngidi.
You can watch Day 3 of the Dream11 IPL between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday at 16:00 on Supersport.
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