IPL 8: Delhi Daredevils lose last-ball thriller to Chennai Super Kings

ChennaiDelhi Daredevils allrounder Albie Morkel 55ball 73 took his team to the brink of victory against Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday night only to fall one short of the hostsrsquo total of 1507Needing 19 off the last over Morkel slammed 4 1 6 2 to bring down the equation to six runs required off the last ball Morkel slapped another length delivery from Dwayne Bravo to the longoff fence but the ball bounced just inside the rope for a boundary Earlier Delhi Daredevilsrsquo bighitters Yuvraj Singh 9 and skipper JP Duminy 5 failed to deliver the goods leaving Morkel to do the bulk of the scoringDelhi Daredevils Albie Morkel en route to his 73 not out against Chennai Super Kings at the MAC Stadium in Chennai on Thursday PicPTIChasing CSKrsquos target of 151 Delhi never got the kind of start they wouldrsquove desired as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals Ashish Nehra sent back Delhi openers Mayank Agarwal 15 and CM Gautam 4 in his second over He then dismissed Mumbairsquos promising youngster Shreyas Iyer 7 for whom Delhi shelled out R26 croreHopes of Delhirsquos revival now relied on Yuvraj the IPL8s costliest buy at R16 crore and skipper JP Duminy The duo too perished quickly Yuvraj was late into his pull shot to give an easy catch to Ishwar Pandey at midwicket Duminy was scalped by Pandey in the next over as Morkel waged a lone battleEarlier twotime champions Chennai Super Kings were caught in a spin web and could only manage a modest 1507Put into bat opener Dwayne Smith 34 and middleorder batsman Faf du Plessis 32 provided a good platform for Chennai but Delhis spin trio of Amit Mishra 121 Imran Tahir 127 and J P Duminy 115 bowled beautifully to restrict Chennai to a modest scoreWith wickets tumbling Mahendra Singh Dhoni too found the going tough In the end the Chennai skipper blasted two sixes in the last over to take his team close to the 150markAustralian pacer Nathan CoulterNile was the highest wickettaker for Delhi as he scalped three for 30 in his four overs at the MA Chidambaram StadiumEarlier Smith gave Chennai a flying start as he blasted three fours in the opening over to amass 16 runsHis opening partner Brendon McCullum 4 too smashed a boundary in the first ball of the next over but Nathan came back strongly dismissing the New Zealand captain in the next ball to strike an early blowNathan struck again in his second over as he cleaned up Suresh Raina to reduce Chennai to 38 for twoNew man Faf du Plessis then joined Smith and blasted a couple of boundaries off Domnic Joseph and Albie Morkel Delhi skipper Duminy introduced spinners Imran and Amit next and the plan worked as the South African gave a simple catch to Nathan at deep midwicket while looking for a boundaryNext batsman Ravindra Jadeja didnt waste any time as he cracked a four and six within 10 balls of his stay while du Plessis indulged in singles and twos to keep the scoreboard ticking with spinners bowling in tendumAfter 12 over du Plessis hit Duminy for a four over extra cover but he was dismissed in the next ball when he tried to smash another ball for a boundary only to be caught by Shreyas Iyer at the fenceIndia skipper Dhoni then joined Jadeja but the latter could not stay longer as he was foxed by Mishras googly which sent his stumps for a walk Domnic Joseph then joined the party getting rid of Dwayne Bravo with a delivery that trapped him in front of the wicket as Chennai slipped to 120 for six in 164 overDhoni tried his hand and blasted two sixes in the last over before holing out to Mayank Agarwal as Chennai posted 150 in the end