Dhoni makes the difference

Scores unbeaten 63 off 31 as Chennai beat listless Delhi to reach top of the table

At the end of the fifteenth over,a stage when most decent IPL teams decide to press hard on the gas,the Delhi Daredevils worm coincided almost precisely with the Chennai Super Kings one. Chasing a stiff target of 177,Delhi had reached 107/3. At the same time on the other side of the break,Chennai were 105/3.

The only difference a major one that would eventually decide the outcome of the match were the batsmen out there in the middle for either side at that stage. For Chennai,there was MS Dhoni,a man who had found his form with 41 against Rajasthan in the previous game. In stark contrast for Delhi,there was Irfan Pathan,a man who had lost his way quite dramatically in the last few years.

What probably aided Dhoni8217;s late surge during the last five overs of the first innings was Pathan8217;s presence with the cricket ball. After hammering Ajit Agarkar for two consecutive fours in the sixteenth,and two back-to-back sixes and a four in the 19th,Dhoni prepared himself for the final assault of the last over one that was to be delivered by a free-falling Pathan. And as the left-arm seamer ran in to bowl,Dhoni eyed the mid wicket region without really making any bones about it.

With a short-arm slap,Dhoni8217;s gruesome flat-batted thwack planted the ball past the mid-wicket crowds,giving Pathan8217;s low full toss the treatment it deserved. As Pathan ran in one final time,the crowds at the MA Chidambaram Stadium hit its crescendo with chants of 8216;Dhoni8217; and 8216;six8217;.

Brutal assault

Their leader,thumping the next ball into the square leg stands,gave them both. Pathan finished with 40 runs in four overs,Dhoni with an unbeaten,and mesmeric 31-ball 63 an innings that was pierced with four brutal assaults into the stands,and five carpet-driven boundaries.

To chase Chennai8217;s total,Delhi needed a great start,one they managed to get even without Virender Sehwag8217;s presence. Naman Ojha,David Warner and Colin Ingram took them to 40/1 in four overs. But just when Ingram fell in the 7th over,Pathan entered the ring with his bat,and Delhi steadily lost their way from there on.

At the beginning of the last five overs of the chase,a point when Dhoni exploded into the Delhi attack,Ashwin dismissed Delhi8217;s Venugopal Rao first ball,a man who could have probably taken the attack to Chennai. But with Pathan dropped a few balls later,Delhi were neither put out of their misery early,nor did they ever look to be in with a chance of hunting down the total. Pathan ended up accumulating 44 runs off 34 balls,and Delhi lost the match by 18 runs.