RAIPUR: Opener Shreyas Iyer struck an unbeaten 70 after veteran pacer Zaheer Khan led a brilliant bowling show as Delhi Daredevils notched up a comprehensive six-wicket win over table toppers Chennai Super Kings in their IPL cricket match here today.
Electing to bat, Chennai scored just 119 for 6 with Zaheer returning with superb figures of 2 for 9 from his four overs and Albie Morkel chipping in with two wickets as Delhi produced a disciplined bowling show at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium.
Chasing the small target of 120, Delhi, who are already out of contention for a play-off berth, lost two quick wickets to be reduced to 24 for two in the fifth over as opener Quinton de Kock (3) and captain Jean-Paul Duminy (6) were out cheaply.
But young Iyer and veteran Yuvraj Singh (32) repaired the Delhi innings with a 69-run stand for the third wicket and set up the easy victory with 3.2 overs to spare.
20-year-old Iyer, who was dropped on 32 in the ninth over, hit 10 fours and a six in his 49-ball unbeaten knock on a slowish track while Yuvraj, who was out in the 14th over, struck four boundaries and a six in his 28-ball innings.
Iyer hit the winning run, a single, as Delhi reached 120 for 4 in 16.4 overs.
For Chennai, Ishwar Pandey and Pawan Negi took two wickets apiece.
Today’s win was Delhi’s fifth from 13 matches and in the process they snapped their four-match losing streak this season though the victory did not have much significance as they remain on seventh spot in the league table with 10 points with one match left to play.
Interestingly, Delhi snapped their seven-match losing streak against Chennai in the IPL. (PTI)
Chennai Super Kings Innings
Dwayne Smith lbw Albie Morkel 18
Brendon McCullum c JP Duminy b Zaheer 11
Suresh Raina c JP Duminy b Jayant Yadav 11
Francois du Plessis b Albie Morkel 29
MS Dhoni c Shahbaz Nadeem b Zaheer 27
Dwayne Bravo c JP Duminy b Gurinder Sandhu 8
Pawan Negi not out 5
Ravindra Jadeja not out 3
Extras 7
Total 119/6
Delhi Daredevils Innings
Quinton de Kock c Ashwin b Ishwar Pandey 3
Shreyas Iyer not out 70
JP Duminy b Ishwar Pandey 6
Yuvraj Singh c Mohit Sharma b Pawan Negi 32
Albie Morkel c Ishwar Pandey b Pawan Negi 8
Kedar Jadhav not out 1
Extras 0
Total 120/4