Pacers Khaleel Ahmed and Mukesh Kumar bowled brilliant spells at the start and the middle of the innings after David Warner and Rishabh Pant struck blazing half-centuries as Delhi Capitals handed Chennai Super Kings a 20-run defeat and opened their account in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 here on Sunday. Khaleel (2-21) and Mukesh Kumar (3-21) shared five wickets between them to rattle Chennai Super Kings and restrict them to 171/6 in 20 overs despite a magical 16-ball 37 not out by MS Dhoni at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium here.

After skipper Rishabh Pant had won the toss, David Warner and the skipper hammered quick-fire half-centuries and Prithvi Shaw blazed a 27-ball 43 as Delhi Capitals managed to post 191/5 in 20 overs. The bowlers led by Khaleel and Mukesh Kumar took over after that as Delhi Capitals put their campaign back on the rails after two losses and handed CSK their first defeat after two wins at home.

Khaleel, the white-ball expert who fell out of favour of the national selectors in 2019 but did well in the domestic circuit, rattled CSK by claiming the first two wickets by sending back openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra to reduce CSK to 7/2 as CSK could manage only 34/2 in the first six overs, — their lowest such in the first Power-play.

Mukesh Kumar continued to add to Chennai Super Kings’ woes as he claimed two wickets off successive deliveries as he finished with 3-21 in three overs as Rishabh Pant used seven bowlers to keep Chennai Super Kings under pressure. CSK lost the match despite some late magic by former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who hammered a sensational 16-ball 37 not out towards the end of the match.

Chasing a big total of 192 on a pitch that was offering a bit of bounce, Chennai Super Kings’s hopes of winning the match depended on openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra providing them a blazing start, just like they did in their last match. However, those hopes did not materialise as they faltered to lose two quick wickets with only seven runs on the board.

Seasoned pacer Khaleel Ahmed accounted for both of them, getting Gaikwad (1) to edge one behind to Pant with the extra ball of the first over after he sent down a wide. The CSK skipper attempted an expansive drive off a length ball and feathered it to the keeper.

Ravindra (2) did not last long as he was caught superbly by Tristian Stubbs at mid-on as the New Zealander mishit a chipped pull.

Ajinkya Rahane and Daryl Mitchell raised 68 runs for the third wicket partnership as they revived the CSK innings. Rahane struck some superb shots, scoring 45 off 30 balls studded with five fours and two sixes. Daryl Mitchell scored 34 off 26 balls.

But two wickets in two balls by Mukesh Kumar, who sent back Rahane with a superb slower ball, getting him caught at long-on while on the next ball, he found a thin edge with a ball that bounced a bit to account for Sameer Rizvi. He came back to pick the dangerous Shivam Dube in the 17th over with a short and slower one, to end with figures of 3-21.

Towards the end, Ravindra Jadeja and Mahendra Dhoni unleashed some superb shots but by that time, the writing was clear on the wall. Jadeja scored 21 off 17 balls while Dhoni, who was dropped by Khaleel off Mukesh Kumar at backward point, hammered 37 not out just 16 balls, hitting four boundaries and three sixes including a 85+ one-handed maximum off a ball picked from his legs. The 42-year-old maestro played a special and brilliant innings that raised the hopes of ardent fans, but the task was very difficult.

The Dhoni magic, though great watching for the CSK fans in the stands, was too little as Delhi Capitals lost by 20 runs as the trend of home teams winning the matches continued with 12 out of 13 going in favour of the hosts.

Earlier, Warner and Prithvi Shaw gave Delhi Capitals a brilliant start, their best of this IPL as they blazed to 62 runs in the Power-play and they raised a 93-run partnership. They scored 24 runs from the first four overs and then 51 from the next three as they gave DC their best start of the season.

Warner (52, 35bs, 5×4, 2×6) and Shaw (43, 27b, 4×4, 2×6) were opening for the first time this season with DC deciding to demote Mitchell Marsh from the opening slot and push him down into the middle-order. The move paid off as Warner and Shaw went after the bowling.

Warner ended the opening over by Deepak Chahar with a four, driving him through covers. An over later, he struck DC’s first six of the innings by planting into the stands a slightly slower delivery by Chahar. Warner went berserk in Chahar’s next over, hitting him for a six, flicked off the pads, and two boundaries to take 17 runs off the over.

Warner hammered Ravindra Jadeja for a four and six as he blazed to a half-century off 32 balls, hammering five boundaries and three sixes. The Aussie opener was dropped by Mustafizur Rahman off his own bowling. putting down a difficult catch as it fizzed past him. But the Bangladesh pacer had the last laugh as he made the breakthrough for CSK. However, it was more of a Matheesha Pathirana wicket as he brilliantly caught a reverse scoop by Warner, jumping into the air and pouching a one-handed catch.

Shaw opened up in the fourth over, dispatching a fuller delivery outside off by his Mumbai teammate Tushar Deshpande past the vacant point region for a one-bounce four. The Mumbai star was at his best against Mustafizur Rahman in the sixth over, hitting the Bangladesh pacer for a hat-trick of boundaries, flicking one off his pads, using his wrists against a slower one, and then and a superb punch through covers for the third.

He slog-swept Jadeja for a six in the seventh over and then repeated the shot for a slightly more fuller delivery around off for his second six. But Jadeja had his revenge off the next delivery as he extracted an outside edge and Dhoni made no mistake.

Rishabh Pant and Mitchell Marsh took over the scoring and DC were looking set to go past the 200-run mark.

However, Sri Lankan pacer Pathirana’s three-fer applied the brakes as the bowler with a Lasith Malinga-like slinging action yorked Mitchell Marsh and Stubbs in one superb over in which he touched 150.04 on the speed gun, hampered their progress. He unleashed two superb yorkers, the second one touching 150kph on the speed gun as he uprooted the middle stump to account for Marsh (18) and Tristan Stubbs (0).

DC were left shell-shocked for a few overs before Pant went after Pathirana, hammering him for six and two boundaries. An attempted yorker from the Sri Lankan Malinga look-alike in action was launched over long-on. The next ball was sent to the long-on boundary and the next delivery sliced over the point region for a boundary as Pant completed his half-century in 31 balls.

He was out on the next ball, trying to hit a shot too many as Pant tried to hit Pathirana out of the ground but sliced and skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad caught a skier as DC eventually managed to reach 191/5, which in the end proved 20 more than what CSK could eventually score.

Brief scores:

Delhi Capitals 191/5 in 20 overs (David Warner 52, Rishabh Pant 51, Prithvi Shaw 43; Pathirana 3-31) beat Chennai Super Kings 171/6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 45, MS Dhoni 37 not out, Daryl Mitchell 34;