From 40 for 0 after four overs, RR only scored 45 in their next six. The legspin of RR old boy Yuzvendra Chahal and the slower cutters of Lockie Ferguson and Marcus Stoinis had a lot to do with this, on a pitch that was just a touch grippy and two-paced.

Samson fell in the 11th over, trying to force the pace against Ferguson, and Jaiswal seemed to be getting stuck. But from 46 off 39, he found that elusive higher gear, crunching Chahal down the ground to bring up his fifty before slog-sweeping his next ball for six. He hit Stoinis for a six and a four in the next over – the 13th – before becoming Ferguson’s second victim, swinging too early at a well-disguised, stump-bound knuckleball.

Parag, batting at No. 3, began much like Jaiswal had done, struggling initially to get to grips with the surface. At one stage, after four successive dots against Arshdeep’s cutter, angling across the right-hander and turning further away, Parag was on 12 off 14 in the 16th over.

Then he paused for breath, and took strike transformed, a batter able to hold his shape for a split-second longer. He hit the next two balls from Arshdeep for fours, and that began a hitting spree that brought him 31 off his last 11 balls at the crease. With Nitish Rana, Shimron Hetmyer and Dhruv Jurel contributing cameos as well, RR rushed past 200 in the final over. Stoinis, whose first two only went for 12, leaked 36 in his last two, which again told the tale of RR’s batters coming to grips with the conditions and finding a way to master them.

The first ball Archer bowled could not have been bettered. Perfect length, rooting Impact Sub Priyanash Arya to the crease. Movement from leg to off, at 144.6kph. The left-handed Arya defended down the wrong line and the ball slid past his outside edge to flick the top of off.

Even towards the end of Rahul’s innings, it was apparent that hitting out was becoming difficult. He only scored 16 off his last 13 balls. DC understood that. Mukesh Kumar got one to stick in the surface and drew a leading edge from Rachin Ravindra. Ruturaj Gaikwad timed the pants off a Mitchell Starc short ball but didn’t quite place it well enough. He threw his head back as soon as Jake Fraser-McGurk took the catch at deep backward square leg. CSK were 20 for 2 in the third over. It had been six years since. they’ve been able to chase a total over 180 in the IPL. This was not the start they wanted.

Vijay Shankar had only one boundary from his first 31 deliveries. In that time, he could’ve been dismissed lbw or run-out. He survived both calls and tried as hard as he could to make the most of them, but it just wouldn’t come off. DC were so good in denying him the freedom of his arms. The pitch being slow as well didn’t let him get away with the connections that he made. More than once, he grimaced through an innings that brought him 69 runs in 54 balls. DC attempted to find the boundary off 37 balls and succeeded 21 times. CSK actually went harder – they hit out against 38 balls but were only successful 12 times. DC’s bowlers harnessed a slow, turning pitch beautifully. They out CSK-ed CSK. Winning the toss and batting first helped.

In the last match, Stephen Fleming said Dhoni cannot bat for a long time and therefore they ration his appearances. That’s why he batted at No. 9 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru because there was no point in him coming any earlier.

This time they had no choice. Half the side was in the hut with only 10.4 overs on the board. Kuldeep Yadav had delivered a killer googly to Ravindra Jadeja. The batter did not read it. He wasn’t even allowed the chance to pick it off the pitch. The length was so perfect, bringing him forward and then turning the wrong way to hit his pad instead of his flailing blade.

That brought Dhoni to the crease. He’s won World Cups before. But this might have been the first time he was batting in front of his parents. They were at the ground, to watch him score 30 off 26 and his team lose by 25 runs. It was a difficult evening for CSK fans. Their chances of winning, according to ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster, was down at 9.51% even before the chase was halfway through. Jadeja is yet to bowl his full quota of overs in four matches. Ashwin has done so only twice. CSK have hit the fewest sixes in IPL 2025.  Their middle order (4-7) is struggling badly, averaging 21.76 (third-lowest in the tournament) and striking at 116.94 [lowest].

Brief scores:
Delhi Capitals 183 for 6  in 20 overs (KL Rahul 77, Abhishek Poral 33, Axar Patel 21, Sameer Rizvi 20, Tristan Stubbs 24*; Khaleel Ahmed 2-25, Ravindra Jadeja 1-19, Noor Ahmad 1-36, Matheesha Pathirana 1-31) beat Chennai Super Kings 158 for 5 in 20 overs (Vijay Shankar 69*, Devon Conway 13, Shivam Dube 18, MS Dhoni 30*; Mitchell Starc 1-27, Mukesh Kumar 1-36, Vipraj Nigam 2-27, Kuldeep Yadav 1-30) by 25 runs

[Cricinfo]