The Hindu : Sport : Chennai Super Kings gunning for revenge

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Chennai Super Kings gunning for revenge

Daredevils’ all-round show stands it in good stead

— Photo: AP

WELL DONE! Dirk Nannes (right) has acquitted himself very well much to the delight of Delhi Daredevils.

Johannesburg: Having got its campaign back on track, Delhi Daredevils will be eyeing its fifth victory while a rejuvenated Chennai Super Kings will be out for revenge in Saturday’s Indian Premier League match here.

The Delhi team’s winning streak came to a halt after defending champion Rajasthan Royals inflicted a five-wicket mauling on Tuesday, but the Virender Sehwag-led side shrugged it off to thump Deccan Chargers by six wickets on Thursday.

With eight points from five matches, the Delhi outfit is second in the table behind topper Deccan Chargers on net run-rate.

Last year’s runner-up Super Kings, meanwhile, has had a slow start but is slowly picking up steam.

After hammering Royals by 38 runs, it has now climbed from second last to fifth place in the chart with five points from six outings.

And now it would be aiming to improve its standings further while exacting revenge on the Delhi side to which it had gone down by nine runs in the previous meeting.

But that’s easier said than done and though the ominous opening pair of Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir has failed to click so far, one good knock could see things fall in place for the explosive duo.

Tillakaratne Dilshan, whose unbeaten 52 guided Daredevils to victory against Chargers, is in sparkling form with A.B. de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik adding to the strength of the line-up.

Daredevils has found a dependable new-ball pair in Australian left-arm paceman Dirk Nannes and India discard Aashish Nehra, who are extending good support to their batting colleagues.

Daniel Vettori and Pradeep Sangwan will also add to the worry of Chennai’s batting order, consisting the likes of Matthew Hayden and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

In-form Hayden is the leading run-getter in this IPL with 216 runs and CSK will depend a lot on his lusty hitting to get even with Daredevils.

After his 98-run heroics against Rajasthan, a lot can be expected from Raina, while S. Badrinath and all-rounder Jacob Oram would also be there to lend support.

Spin legend Muttiah Muralithran has so far failed to live up to expectations and the team also lacks penetration in the opening overs.

It will depend on speedster Albie Morkel to cash in on his home advantage and give early jolts to Daredevils. — PTI

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