Synopsis: Throwback Dhoni and magical Pathirana thrust to defeat by a back-to-near best Pant and a utilitarian bowling group
Hope buzzed. The past flickered. For 20-odd minutes, this was 2005 Visakhapatnam again. A dashing young batsman, with hair like peaceful waves, would shred the bowlers to all parts of the ground and enter the heart, head and consciousness of a nation. The hair still flowed, the bat still whirled. Dhoni carved Anrich Nortje for a one-handed six, he clumped Khaleel Ahmed for a six over extra cover, he pulled and heaved, generated thunderous power and had the crowd in pure raptures.
Yet, he lost, if at all that matters. He almost rendered the result inconsequential—the spectators would take home the Dhoni blaze, even though his knock could not deny Delhi Capitals a 20-run win and first points of the season.
Unfashionable, utilitarian
The ensemble cast of Delhi Capital bowlers looks unfashionable, comprises of castaways, outliers and part-timers. Apart from Anrich Nortje, none evokes fear, forget dread. But on Sunday, their spectacular collectivism dismantled CSK’s ammo-packed batting firm.
Vintage Dhoni 👌#TATAIPL fans were treated to some strong hitting by MS Dhoni
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Everyone played their role to perfection—Ishant Sharma and Khaleel Ahmed, neither in the scheme of selectors, stifled the openers before Ahmed devoured both openers. Nortje bowled with typical bark and bite, hustling batsmen, bolting the confidence of impact player Shivam Dube. Mukesh Kumar, preserved for a late burst, hit suffocating lengths, his change of pace carefully disguised. He picked two wickets in as many balls—those of Ajinkya Rahane and Sameer Rizvi to strangle CSK’s charge. The canniest among them, though, was Axar Patel, a white-ball virtuoso in the fine art of altering release points, angles and pace. His over-spun ball deceived Daryll Mitchell, at a critical juncture of the game, when he was stitching a match-defining stand with Rahane, soon after a 17-run over.
Pant is back, almost
Even the CSK diehards in the stands would not grudge a Rishabh Pant onslaught. He is the darling of the masses, there is a throbbing empathy on the rough life he had endured in the last 15 months, and there is a genuine anticipation of wanting him to rescale the high-pitch hitting note. The first half of his knock had none of this, he seemed out-of-tune, his notes still jarring, his meandering an ordeal for his faithful. After 19 balls, he had only mustered 17 runs. The only Pant-like moment was the on-one-knee slog-swept six off Ravindra Jadeja, who endured an uncharacteristically expensive outing.
Rishabh Pant departs for a well made 51(32)
Maheesha Pathirana strikes again 🙌
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Just then he snapped to life, as if seized by a sudden flow of voltage. All he required perhaps was one perfect note for everything else to fall in place. That came in the form of a wide short ball from Tushar Deshpande, which he flayed past cover. Something about the stroke, refilled his bottle of confidence. In the next over, he disdained Mustafizur Rahman, for a four and a six, two brutal strokes, a pull he fetched from outside the off-stump and a clump over mid-wicket. Pathirana was then snubbed for a pair of fours and sixes, before he was held in the deep, soon after striking his maiden fifty of the IPL season. His last 34 runs had arrived in only 13 balls, a sign that he is inching closer to his destructive best. Later in the innings, his movements were more fluid, his judgement sharper. His late-charge was the difference between DC settling for a below-par 170 to a competitive 191 for five.
Slinger’s sting
Some days, the bowler would just hold the ball and feel it is their day, the day when the stitched sphere of leather would listen to their orders, even whims and impulses. Like Matheesha Pathirana might have felt on Sunday, The ball was like an obedient goblin, executing the command of its master, with a devilish enthusiasm.
The two yorkers were pure evil. Both flattened the stumps—Mitchell Marsh’s middle-stump and Tristan Stubbs’s off-pole—like a coin steamrolled by a locomotive. The speed was blinding—the Marsh one clocked 150.4 kph and Stubbs one 149. Both were flung low, the wrist-snap producing shape away from the righties, before the ball seamed back to beat their reflexes and crawled past their half-baked judgement. The low-slung ball, as if that is not difficult enough to gauge, would suddenly drop, a result of him releasing the ball with a seam that’s diagonal.
There are the subtleties he has added in his bowling—he can bowl with the seam tilted horizontally and sometimes resorts to the scrambled seam alternative too. Combine these tricks with precision, and you discover an unplayable bowler.
The strikes came at the most opportune moments—whenever DC looked to snatch the game away from CSK. He would then nip Rishabh Pant at the death, just when he seemed to have discovered a sinister rhythm to his batting. Not to forget his first over of the day, when he checked the DC rampage with a four-run over; or the gravity mocking catch for the first breakthrough. But even his star-turn could not prevent a defeat, their first of the season.
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 191/5 (D Warner 52, R Pant 51, M Pathirana 3/31) beat CSK 171/6 (Ajinkya Rahane 45, Dhoni 37) by 20 runs
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