Faf du Plessis of Chennai Super Kings plays a shot against Delhi Capitals in Sharjah on Saturday night. - BCCI/IPL
Dubai - Purple Cap holder Kagiso Rabada becomes the fastest to 50 wickets
Published: Sat 17 Oct 2020, 7:44 PM
Updated: Sun 18 Oct 2020, 12:18 AM
Taking a cue from his illustrious countryman AB de Villiers, South African Faf du Plessis knocked a half-century to help the Chennai Super Kings post a decent total against the Delhi Capitals in Sharjah on Saturday night.
Du Plessis came up with his fourth half-century of the season and the 16th of his IPL career as the three-time champions put up 179 for four on the board at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
After fellow opener and pinch-hitter Sam Curran was out for nought, off the third ball of the match, du Plessis went on to make 58 from 47 deliveries with the help of six boundaries and two sixes.
He and Shane Watson, who came in at one-down weaved together a partnership of 87 runs for the second wicket. But their innings went at a slow pace despite Watson cracking a 28-ball 36 that had six boundaries.
Ambati Rayudu, who remained unbeaten on 45 from 25 deliveries with four sixes and a lone boundary, added 22 with du Plessis for the third wicket and then 20 with skipper MS Dhoni.
Ravindra Jadeja then threw his bat around for an unbeaten 13-ball 33 that contained four sixes. His and Rayudu's unbroken partnership was worth 50 runs for the fifth wicket.
Fast bowler Anrich Nortje, who had cranked it up by bowling the quickest delivery in IPL history, the other night, returned with two scalps, while compatriot Kagiso Rabada took one.
Rabada, the Purple Cap holder, went on to become the fastest to 50 wickets from 26 games with the previous record held by Kolkata Knight Riders' West Indian spinner Sunil Narine, who had got there in 32 matches.
The Delhi Capitals went in with the same playing XI, while the Chennai Super Kings made one change to their line-up by bringing back Kedhar Jadhav for Piyush Chawla.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings: 179-4 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 58, Ambati Rayudu 45 not out, Shane Watson 36, Ravindra Jadeja 33 not out, Anrich Nortje 2-44) vs Delhi Capitals.
Teams:
Chennai Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (C) (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma.
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (C), Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Tushar Deshpande, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.
james@khaleejtimes.com