Spared by the fielders a number of times, opener Shikhar Dhawan (101) hit his maiden IPL hundred while Axar Patel pulled off three sixes in the final over as Delhi Capitals moved to the top of the table with a tense five-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in Sharjah on Saturday. Dropped on 25 and 79, apart from surviving a half chance and a run-out opportunity, Dhawan made full use of the lives given to him to raise his best IPL knock as the Capitals overhauled a stiff 180-run target with one to spare. On 99, Dhawan also got a caught-behind decision reversed, using DRS. Despite a well-set Dhawan at the crease, Sam Curran bowled an exceptional 19th over, giving away just four runs to keep CSK in the hunt. Capitals needed 17 runs off the final over and it looked like Dhawan's effort could go in vain but Axar Patel played a blinder of a knock, hitting three sixes off Ravindra Jadeja to finish off the game in style. DC now have 14 points from nine games, one more than second-placed Mumbai Indians (12), while CSK are sixth with six points from nine matches.
Brief Scores:
Chennai Super Kings: 179 for 4 in 20 overs (F Du Plessis 58, A Rayudu 45, Watson 36; A Nortje 2/44).
Delhi Capitals: 185 for 5 in 19.5 overs. (S Dhawan 100 not out, M Stoinis 24; D Chahar 2/18).
7:03 PM IST: MS Dhoni wins the toss, and CSK bat first.
7:07 PM IST: Playing XIs
Delhi Capitals: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer (c), Marcus Stoinis, Alex Carey (wk), Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Tushar Deshpande, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje.
Chennai Super Kings: Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Dwayne Bravo, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Karn Sharma.
