Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were subject of yet another dismal run chase as they succumbed to a 44-run defeat against Delhi Capitals on Thursday in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE.

Put into bat first by CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Prithivi Shaw was the star of the night for Delhi with his 43-ball 64. In the second innings, it was the usual brilliance from South African pacer Kagiso Rabada (3/26) which helped the Shreyas Iyer’s men defend their score of 175.

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It was the second straight defeat of CSK after they had lost their second match of the season against the Rajasthan Royals earlier this week. On Thursday again, the Yellow Army were outplayed in all departments by the young Delhi side at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Though Dhoni made a change in his playing XI, replacing Lungi Ngidi with Aussie quick Josh Hazlewood, it hardly made a difference to CSK’s fortunes.

Chasing the 176-run target, CSK started on a cautious note but the openers – Shane Watson (14) and Murli Vijay (10) — once again disappointed their team with their poor show with the willow.

Faf du Plessis, however, kept the scorers busy but lacked support from the other end as Ruturaj Gaikwad, too, departed soon after contributing just five runs, as CSK was reduced to 44/3 in 9.1 overs.

Kedar Jadhav showed some resistance in the middle and shared a 54-run stand with du Plessies before Anrich Nortje, who had earlier dismissed Vijay, cut short the former’s stay in the 16th over. Jadhav chipped in with 26 runs off 21 balls.

After the end of 17 overs, CSK needed 65 off the final 18 balls and in such a scenario, du Plessis (43 off 35) tried to shift gears. However, a thick edge off his bat was cleanly caught by Rishabh Pant behind the wickets.

With the required run-rate continuously mounting, Dhoni (15) and Ravindra Jadeja (12) barely tried to play for a win and departed in the final over as their side fell short by a massive 44-run margin for another heartbreak loss.

For DC, Rabada was the wrecker-in-chief after returning with impressive figures of 3/26 while Nortje and Axar Patel bagged two and one wicket each.

Earlier, after being asked to bat, Delhi rode opener Prithvi Shaw’s blistering 43-ball 64 to post 175/3 in the allotted 20 overs. Shaw received able support from his opening partner Shikhar Dhawan, who contributed with 27-ball 35 before falling. Shaw’s knock contained nine boundaries and a hit into the stands.

The duo handed a slow but safe start as their side was 36 for no loss in the first six overs of powerplay. Shaw and Dhawan swiftly accelerated the run-rate as DC’s scorecard read 88/0 after the next four overs.

However, Dhawan, who tried to up the ante in the second-half of their innings,tried a reverse sweep off a Piyush Chawla delivery but was unfortunate to be trapped before the wickets. The pair was also involved in a 94-run opening stand.

Just when DC added another nine runs, Chawla struck again as he packed back a good looking Shaw, thanks to some fine glove work by Dhoni. Later, Rishabh Pant (37 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (26) stitched 58 runs for the third wicket before the DC skipper became a victim of Sam Curran in the penultimate over with Delhi’s scorecard reading 161/3.

Pant and Marcus Stoinis, who remained unbeaten on five, gathered 14 runs off the final over to help Delhi post a challenging total.

Brief scores: Delhi Capitals 175/3 off 20 overs (Prithvi Shaw 64, Rishabh Pant 37 not out; Piyush Chawla 2/33) beat Chennai Super Kings (Faf du Plessis 43, Kedar Jadhav 26; Kagiso Rabada 3/26) by 44 runs

With IANS inputs