This Sunday offered us two matches with big winning margins. DC would have loved to win but CSK, as MS said, had the perfect game. The weekend has helped get a clearer picture of where this tournament is heading and that trend should continue in the next seven days. The action continues here on ESPNcricinfo, so come on and enjoy the content. For now, it's goodbye from me, Ekanth, on behalf of my fellow commentator, Sidharth Monga, and our scorers, M Venkat Raghav and Ranjith P.
Munafahmed: "4 bowlers today took 2 wickets in 2 balls. What a day."
Devon Conway, POTM for his 87 (49): The focus is to keep it simple, communicate with Ruturaj and execute our plans. Knowing what their bowlers are like and learning about the pitch was the topic of discussion with Michael Hussey. I was happy to build a partnership with Rutu, the way he is playing eases my job. Being an all-format player is my brand, being positive up-front and assessing the situation is my focus thereon. I got out to the sweep, MS told me that I will get full balls and to go down the track and hit the ball straight.
MS Dhoni, CSK Captain: The big-margin win helps, would have been better if it had come earlier. But this was a perfect game. The batters did well. I wanted to win the toss and field first but this was a game where you'd want to lose the toss. The ball stops and comes and behaves only after 13-14 overs. The way the openers batted, runs on the board helped. And we had to make sure the opposition's big hitters did not get going. Simarjeet and Mukesh have taken time to mature, each player takes his own time. Game sense is crucial, finding out what to and what not to bowl. The latter is more important in T20s. The first ball is to see what was happening. When you go in the 13th-14th over, you can tap for one. But with 12 balls to go, you have to go big from ball one. We haven't done well to go , getting 4 off 2 is not good. We will look to take one game at a time. I am not good at maths, not even at school. Enjoying the game in hand is the best. See the combinations that work and plan for the next year if qualification is possible is the key.
Alex Frank : "Who would have thought only 5 teams will have positive NRR and CSK would be one of them!!!"
Vasisht: "Had we won one of the three games (RCB, GT, LSG) where we lost from a winning position, we would have been at no.6 with a real shot at qualifying. "
Hari: "Whenever I see Bravo's slow Yorker, I get reminded of his delivery Yuvi in a bilateral series against Ind. Requiring 10 runs to win, Yuvi hits him for 2 fours and gets out to this delivery off the next ball. If you could find me that match it ll make me happy @Ekanth :)" Here it is! :D
DC's innings started okay but Warner's wicket was huge. Marsh and Pant tried to continue with the aggressive shots but once they went, the clusters of wickets prolonged. It was a slow but sure end with a big win for CSK. It takes the NRR to the numerical positive side of the Points Table. They've overtaken KKR as well.
Rishabh Pant, DC Captain: They outplayed us in all the departments. I felt this was coming, the only thing we look forward is the next three games. If we win them, we should qualify. There are flus and Covid cases, a lot going on but we are not using that as excuses. The only thing we can do is be more positive and proactive, we need to be in a good frame of mind and make good decisions.
Moeen Ali, 4-0-13-3: It's great for us, the confidence going forward is up because of the win. Ours was a good score, at one point we thought of 215 but we got over 200 with which we were happy. We got a bit less, but we stayed in the game with runs on the board. My primary aim is to spin the ball and the wickets are assisting me. We have an amazing fanbase, I didn't realize how big the franchise is but am thrilled to see it.
11:11 pm The DC team is applauding the CSK team as they make their way back to maintain distance as a safety precaution.
KK Ahmed b Bravo 0 (2m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00
Khalil comes in with a ginger walk.
SN Thakur c †Dhoni b Bravo 24 (31m 19b 2x4 1x6) SR: 126.31
Around the wicket
END OF OVER:17 | 7 Runs | DC: 109/8 (100 runs required from 18 balls, RR: 6.41, RRR: 33.33)
- Anrich Nortje1 (6b)
- Shardul Thakur16 (16b)
- Maheesh Theekshana4-0-29-1
- Simarjeet Singh4-0-27-2
Mustafa: "@Gajendra - For the very same purpose, we have NRR."
krishneup: "NRR is more accurate measurement than bonus win point."