Suresh Raina smashed a sensational fifty in his comeback game before Sam Curran's business end masterclass in the death overs powered Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to 188/7 in their 20 overs against Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match here at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
After eight overs, CSK were 48/2 but first Raina and then Sam Curran played scintillating knocks to steer the MS Dhoni-led side to 188/7 despite the team wobbling after the 15th over.
While Raina ensured both spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Amit Mishra feel the heat as he took them on after CSK was put on the back foot early in the innings, Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja took on the pacers in the death overs.
Asked to bat first, CSK got off to the worse possible start as they lost both openers Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad before the completion of the third over.
While Avesh Khan caught du Plessis in front of the stumps, Chris Woakes dismissed Gaikwad to leave CSK reeling at 7/2. However, Suresh Raina and Moeen Ali counter-attacked with the England all-rounder leading the charge.
The duo steadied the ship for CSK as they added 53 runs for the third wicket in 38 balls. Moeen, however, got out after smashing Ashwin for two back-to-back sixes.
Meanwhile, Raina smashed his first IPL half-century since 2019 in just 32 balls and formed another fifty partnership with Ambati Rayudu.
Rayudu got out while trying to accelerate the innings and a huge mix-up between Raina and Ravindra Jadeja resulted in another wicket. Raina departed after scoring 54 runs.
Minutes later Avesh cleaned up MS Dhoni as CSK lost three quick wickets. After Dhoni's wicket, CSK, who were racing to a big score, scored seven and five runs in the 17th and 18th over respectively.
But Sam Curran and Jadeja smashed boundaries to steer CSK to 188/7 in the allotted 20 overs. Woakes clean bowled Sam Curran on the last ball of the match.
Brief Scores: CSK 188/7 (Suresh Raina 54, Moeen Ali 36; Chris Woakes 2-18) vs Delhi Capitals
( With inputs from ANI )
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