Avesh Khan dismisses Dhoni & du Plessis for ducks, contributes in DC's 7-wicket win vs CSK

With the lethal Proteas pace duo of Andrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada missing, 24-year-old Avesh Khan rose to the occasion for Delhi Capitals as the 2020 runners up took on 3-time champions CSK at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Picked ahead of Umesh Yadav and an injured Ishant Sharma, Khan made the ball do talking in the second over itself as he dismissed former South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis for a duck. Swinging in the ball, the young gun trapped the veteran batsman plumb in front of wickets, jolting the first blow to CSK.

As CSK staged a valiant comeback through fiery knocks by Suresh Raina and Moeen Ali, the pacer swung back in action to bag the most prized wicket in his career. Khan dismissed CSK skipper MS Dhoni for another duck, marking his second wicket at zero in the match. To date, the CSK skipper has now been dismissed only four times while at zero in the IPL with his last duck coming back in 2015 against Mumbai Indians when Harbhajan Singh dismissed him. Avesh Khan eventually ended his four overs conceding just 23 runs at an economy of 5.8 and played a crucial role in restricting CSK to 188.

Dhawan-Shaw torment CSK

Chasing a total of 189, Delhi Capitals never looked bothered as openers Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw got off to a fiery start. Shaw put on a perfect show on display as he played a fearless knock of 72 runs. Meanwhile, Shikhar Dhawan held the other end strong scoring 85 runs off 54 balls before being trapped by Shardul Thakur. Captain Rishabh Pant hit the winning runs as he trumped his mentor, MS Dhoni, in his first game as a captain.

Raina registers a 50 on return

Winning the toss in his first game as a captain, Rishabh Pant elected to field first and put MS Dhoni & Co. to bat at the Wankhede. Having lost a couple of early wickets, CSK looked to be in troubled waters until Suresh Raina walked in and carried out the rescue act along with Moeen Ali. The Chennai stalwart started slow but soon notched up his half-century with a huge maximum. The former India player, who announced retirement from international cricket last year, also smashed Ravichandran Ashwin for back-to-back sixes and registered his half-century in the game. 

Image Credits: IPL