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Du Plessis and Watson power CSK into IPL final

cricket10 May 2019 15:56| © MWP
By:Jonhenry Wilson
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Faf du Plessis © @IPL (Twitter)
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Chennai Super Kings openers Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson struck half-centuries to guide their team to a six-wicket victory over the Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier in Visakhapatnam on Friday to secure a spot in the final.

Full Scorecard

CSK made a watchful start to the chase before Du Plessis began to flex his muscle.

The Proteas captain scored 31 of the first 35 runs, facing 22 balls to Watson's 10.

Loose bowling from Keemo Paul allowed CSK to take control of the chase and for Watson to find his touch.

Du Plessis notched his 12th IPL fifty and looked in control but Trent Boult would be his undoing, digging one in that the batsman looked to smash for six but he couldn't clear Paul on the boundary, departing for 50 off 39 balls, which included seven fours and a six.

With Du Plessis gone, Watson took over the role of bullying the Capitals' bowling and when he swatted Paul for six to bring up the hundred the writing was all but on the wall.

The former Australian allrounder brought up his fifty in style, smacking Paul for another six to end the 12th over with CSK needing just 40 runs to win from 48 balls.

DELIRIOUS CROWD

Amit Mishra ensured that Watson followed in Du Plessis's footsteps and lost his wicket immediately after reaching fifty, lofting an inside-out drive to Boult.

Suresh Raina couldn't see things through to the end though, chopping on Axar Patel to end a struggling innings of 11 off 13 balls.

MS Dhoni entered at the fall of Raina's wicket sending the crowd into delirium.

The freebies afforded to the Super Kings by the bowling of Paul were more than enough to make the chase a comfortable one, and when his final ball disappeared to the fence, CSK needed just four to win off 12 deliveries. Paul finished with disappointing figures of 0-49 off three overs.

Dhoni looked to kill off the match but he slapped his hook shot to Paul whose catching was a lot better than his bowling to give Ishant Sharma the wicket of the fan favourite.

Dwayne Bravo struck the winning runs and sent CSK into their eighth IPL final where they will meet the Mumbai Indians.

CONFIDENT START

Earlier, the Delhi Capitals, who were asked to bat, made a confident start in their attempt to set a target that would carry them into the final, before slumping to 147 for nine.

Early-on, Prithvi Shaw missed out on a couple of overpitched deliveries but put away the first short ball and Shikhar Dhawan punished anything too full with surgical straight drives.

Dead-eye Dhoni was spot-on with a decision to review an appeal for leg before from Deepak Chahar on Shaw. The young Delhi opener departed for just five and left the Capitals 21 for one.

Harbhajan Singh was brought on to combat the left-handed Dhawan and his fellow southpaw Colin Munro, who looked like they might get the Capitals rolling.

Dhawan (18) nicked one from Harbhajan and Munro couldn't kick on from a good start and holed out for 27 looking to take on Ravindra Jadeja.

With Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer at the crease Dhoni turned to leggie Imran Tahir but his first over was well handled by the pair.

TAHIR STRIKES

However, Tahir struck in his second, removing Shreyas (13) to have the Capitals reeling at 75 for four and things were about to get worse when Bravo accounted for Axar (3).

That left Pant to try and rebuild the innings with West Indies allrounder Sherfane Rutherford. The latter survived a tight leg before shout that was referred, and took that as license to swing.

He eventually found his range and plastered Harbhajan for six over cover off the back foot but still the Capitals looked to be below par and the veteran spinner had the last laugh as Rutherford miscued one to short third man.

Tahir should have had Pant caught on the fence but the boundary rider made a mess of the catch going over the rope and gave the Capitals a sliver of hope of a big finish. The spinner's final over proved to be his most expensive but he ended with figures of 1-28.

The Capitals had amassed 116 for the loss of six wickets with three overs to go.

Paul struggled to get off strike, and was yorked by Bravo in the 18th over to leave the Capitals in danger of being bowled out.

Pant wasn't striking the ball like a man well set and in the end he was caught on the long-on fence as he looked to smash Chahar for a maximum. The Capitals were 125 for eight.

Mishra found a way to get the ball to the boundary after being denied six by acrobatic fielding from Du Plessis, but the Capitals had just 131 on the board when the final over began.

Boult smashed Jadeja for six off the second ball of the final over but was bowled by a flatter ball to follow up. Ishant managed to spank a four and a six, to finish with a flourish, but their total was one run below the average score in IPL matches at Visakhapatnam.

The IPL final takes place on Sunday, getting underway at 4pm CAT (SA, GMT+2).

CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt, wk), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir.

DELHI CAPITALS: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Rishabh Pant (wk), Colin Munro, Axar Patel, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma.

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