Ravi Shastri calls them “Guru” and “Chela” and on Saturday Chela’s team ended up teaching Guru’s boys a lesson or two.
So while Rishabh Pant made his captaincy debut in the IPL with a seven-wicket win for Delhi Capitals, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings were left to rue their erroneous “execution” of plans at the Wankhede.
Rishabh got the winning runs, with the Capitals overhauling CSK’s 188/7 in 18.4 overs, but it was the opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan (85 off 54 balls, 10x4, 2x6) and Prithvi Shaw (72 off 38 balls, 9x4, 3x6) who made the chase look like a cakewalk with their 138-run partnership in 13.3 overs.
Since his flop show in Australia, Shaw has metamorphosed into a better batsman, having worked on his “back-and-across movement” at the crease, and married timing with measured aggression perfectly to engineer some breathtaking shots. Such was his finesse that one almost overlooked that he was dropped twice — on 38 and 47 — during his innings.
Senior pro Dhawan almost matched Shaw shot-for-shot and together the two skinned CSK’s bowling attack mercilessly.
Return of Raina
Earlier, Suresh Raina’s innings must have reminded all of CSK what they missed last year.
Stepping on to the crease with his team at 7/2, Raina (54 off 36 balls), along with new recruit Moeen Ali (36 off 24 balls), never allowed the Capitals to dictate the proceedings. The 34-year-old was his usual busy self at the crease, bubbling with infectious energy. He sprayed his shots all around the park, his four sixes all being crisp, clean hits.
Raina trotted on till the 16th over till he was run out. But by that time, he had prepared the launch-pad for CSK to take off in the last five-odd overs.
Dhoni (0) misfired, but Sam Curran (34 off 15 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (26 not out off 17 balls) played smart cricket and CSK extracted 52 runs from the last five overs.
Matter of choices
Capitals benefited a lot from their wise team selection with head coach Ricky Ponting surely being the brain behind it. They didn’t have Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje for quarantine issues. But instead of going for Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma’s experience, the Capitals selected Chris Woakes and young Avesh Khan.
The new ball pair did not only give their team early wickets, they remained economical throughout, with Avesh (2/23) costing 5.75 runs per over and Woakes (2/18) 6.00. It was because of these two that Capitals did not feel the pinch despite top spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (economy 11.75) and Amit Mishra (economy 9.00) having an off day.
They also had the audacity of keeping Steve Smith out of the XI. And it did look like they did not need him.
