The second game of IPL season 8 saw a fresh Delhi Daredevils team take on the mighty Chennai Super Kings at the latter’s home ground, Chepauk, on Thursday. The game had all the makings of a thriller and climaxed with Chennai Super Kings registering a 1-run victory over the resilient Daredevils.
Batting first, CSK lost the dangerous Brendon McCullum (4) and in-form Suresh Raina (4) early. However, their charge was led by the burly Dwayne Smith who scored a quick-fire 34. Faf Du Plessis and captain MS Dhoni chipped in with handy 30s, taking the team’s total to a respectable 150.
However, Delhi Daredevils’ ‘innovative’ ploy of bringing Albie Morkel up the order in their chase, almost paid off as Morkel (73) bludgeoned CSK seamers but failed to get any support from the other end. Pressure came back on DD and eventually got the better of the left-handed pair of Yuvraj Singh (9) and JP Duminy (5), cutting shorting any chances of a comfortable victory.
With a 6 required off the last ball, the rampaging Morkel smashed Dwayne Bravo past covers for a heart-breaking boundary, losing the match by just 1 run.