Chennai Super Kings clinch thriller against Daredevils

NEW DELHI: Chennai Super Kings scored 15 runs from the last over to snatch a heart-stopping four-wicket victory over Delhi Daredevils in a thrilling Indian Premier League return leg match here on Thursday.
    
Chasing 188, Super Kings top order clicked for once but the match went down the wire before the visitors reached the target of the last ball of their innings to hand their opponents their second consecutive loss.
    
In a cliffhanger of a match which saw fortunes fluctuating from one side to the other, the MS Dhoni-led side was cruising along at 98 for two after 10 overs but slumped to 166 for six in the penultimate over to find themselves in a precarious position of scoring 15 from the last over off Shoaib Malik with the seventh wicket pair of S Badrinath and
Manpreet Gony at the crease.
    
Gony held on to his nerves to hit a six and four from the first two legitimate balls before S Badrinath took a single from the last ball to stun the more than 30,000 Kotla crowd.
    
Stephen Fleming top-scored with 44 while his opening partner S Vidyut scored 40 and Dhoni chipped in with a useful 33. Dhoni was adjudged Man of the Match.
    
The Super Kings, who brought as many four changes in their playing XI on Thursday, began on a rollicking fashion with Vidyut, promoted to open the innings in place of out-of-form Parthiv Patel, smashed two boundaries off the first over of Glenn McGrath.
    
Vidyut, who was in the punishing mood from the beginning, gave the same treatment to Mohammad Asif with two fours in the second over and Fleming joined for another boundary to score 15 runs of the Asif over.

Vidyut outscored his senior partner Fleming to raise 62 for the opening wicket before he was out in the seventh over caught by Shikhar Dhawan at deep mid-wicket off Pradeep Sangwan.
    
Vidyut hit 40 off 23 balls with the help of six fours and one six.
    
Fleming also came good after three outings to contribute a useful 44 made from 28 balls and with the help of seven fours and was out after sharing a 36-run stand for the second wicket with Dhoni.
    
The hiccup for the visitors started with the in-form Suresh Raina falling for one to Sangwan before Dhoni and Morkel shared a 40-run stand for the fourth wicket to take the score to 138 for four.
    
Dhoni and Morkel at first looked cautious before unleashing an onslaught on Sehwag in the 14th over with Morkel hitting three sixes and a four to take 23 runs from that over.
    
Sehwag, however, avenged by removing Morkel from a run out with a direct hit from the mid-wicket.
    
Needing 46 from last five overs and six wickets at hand, the match was anybody's and McGrath and Asif ensured that the asking rate crept to 11 from the last three overs.
    
The actual drama was enacted in the 19th over with V Yo Mahesh keeping the home supporters on the edge of the seat by removing Dhoni and Chamara Kapugedara in successive balls to set up a heart-stopping last over.
    
For Delhi, Sangwan and Yo Mahesh took two wickets each while Asif got one.
    
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir (80) smashed his fourth half century of the tournament to lead Delhi Daredevils to a challenging 187 for five.
    
Gambhir held the Daredevils innings together with a 121-run third wicket stand with another half centurion Shikhar Dhawan (59) to take the home team near the 200-mark after his side lost captain Virender Sehwag (23) and AB de Villiers (0) in quick succession.
    
Gambhir, who survived two run out chances, hit 11 fours and a huge six before he was out in the 18th over off Laxmipathy Balaji.
    
Dhawan also batted beautifully at the other end and smashed six fours and two sixes from 46 balls for his 59 before becoming IPL debutant Balaji's second victim.
    
Gambhir, who brought up his fifty with a huge six over mid-wicket boundary off Manpreet Gony to the deafening roar of nearly 30,000 Kotla crowd, overtook his captain Sehwag (270) and eventually snatched the Orange Cap from Deccan Chargers' Rohit Sharma (258) for being the highest run-accumulator.
    
Put into bat, the Daredevils began on a brisk pace with Sehwag and Gambhir rotating strikes and hitting odd balls to the boundary before they were separated in the fifth over with the home team skipper being bowled by a Gony beauty for 23 at team score of 45.
    
Next man in de Villiers was cleaned up by his South Africa teammate Albie Morkel for first ball duck to send the home team to a spot of bother at 46 for two before Gambhir and Dhawan revived it.
    
For the Chennai side, Balaji and Morkel captured two wickets apiece conceding 35 runs each, while Gony chipped in one wicket for 36.