KL Rahul scored a masterly 77 from 51 balls to lead the Delhi Capitals to an impressive total of 183 for six and a victory by 25 runs against the hapless Chennai Super Kings, which was even more emphatic than the scoreline suggests at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday.
On an awkward pitch lacking in pace the home side limped painfully to just 158 for five in reply against an excellent all round bowling attack performance from the Capitals in which Mitchell Starc (4-0-27-1) was especially impressive along with legspinner Vipraj Nigam (2-27), who claimed the important wickets of Devon Conway (13 from 14 balls) and Shivam Dube who struck a four and a six in his 18 from 15 balls.
Fellow wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav continued his outstanding recent form with four strangling overs in the middle of the innings to claim 1-30, while 43-year-old MS Dhoni continued to look a shadow of his former self, finishing on a forlorn 30 not out from 26 balls.
Vijay Shankar was also unbeaten at the end of an embarrassingly one-sided contest but 69* from 54 balls with five fours and a six. Forty-one runs were required from the final over and the match was already comfortably lost – and had been for about five overs preceding the 20th over.
Rahul was clearly batting to a plan in Delhi’s innings, having assessed the value of a ‘par’ score and limited himself to six fours and three sixes in his carefully paced innings of 77 from 51 balls while Abiskek Porel, too, was only cautiously aggressive with 33 from 20 deliveries.
The Capitals' total was given a welcome bonus in the closing three overs when Tristan Stubbs was the only man on either side to come even close to a strike rate of 200 with an unbeaten 24 from just 12 balls with two fours and a six.
The result puts the Capitals two points clear at the top of the log with three wins from three games ahead of the Punjab Kings, the only other unbeaten team with two wins from two.
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad (captain), Vijay Shankar, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wkt), Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Mukesh Choudhary, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana
DELHI CAPITALS: Jake Fraser-McGurk, KL Rahul (wkt), Abishek Porel, Tristan Stubbs, Sameer Rizvi, Axar Patel (captain), Ashutosh Sharma, Vipraj Nigam, Mitchell Starc, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohit Sharma