"It's great to win three in a row. We want to have an impact - whether big or small. That's the plan, and it has been successful so far," said an elated Delhi Capitals captain Axar Patel as his team defeated Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk stadium for the first time in 15 years.
The 25-run win helped Delhi Capitals climb to the top of the points table with three wins in a row, making them the only unbeaten team along with Punjab Kings.
After opting to bat first, KL Rahul's sublime 77 off 51 balls, Abishek Porel's brisk 33 off 20, and a quickfire unbeaten 24 off 12 from Tristan Stubbs helped Delhi Capitals post 183/6 in their 20 overs.
In response, a collective bowling effort led by Vipraj Nigam (2-27), along with a wicket each from Mitchell Starc and Kuldeep Yadav, restricted the hosts to 158/5, sealing Delhi Capitals' first victory at Chepauk in 15 years. Vijay Shankar's unbeaten 69 off 54 balls and MS Dhoni's 26-ball 30 were the main scores for CSK.
While the players were elated by their superb performance in a comprehensive win against the five-time champions, Head Coach Hemang Badani said they need to be humble and grounded and keep playing good cricket.
We are happy as a side to take the three wins. But at the same time, we all know that there is still a lot of cricket left. I have also been a cricketer. And I have seen a lot of ups and downs in life. So, we have won all 3 matches. There is no excitement. We are still humble and grounded. We want to keep playing good cricket.
He gave credit to senior player KL Rahul, who opened the innings in the absence of Faf du Plessis, moving to the top order from his usual position in the middle.
We read the conditions and the surface well. A lot of credit goes to KL Rahul, who was very mature at the top. He kept one end going which helped the other batters around him play more aggressively. The score that we posted was a good one to defend on this pitch.
"(KL) Rahul was clear enough that he was not going to let Noor (Ahmed) settle down because he felt that Noor was somebody who was a crucial bowler for CSK. He wanted to make sure that he put the spinner under some pressure. Once you put the opposition's best bowler down, it becomes difficult for the opposition to keep coming back after that," said Badani.
Badani said Rahul has the mindset to open the innings. "He has opened for India in Test cricket recently. He has batted at four or five in the recently concluded Champions Trophy and he is somebody who can play both spin and pace well. So, I genuinely don't think it is difficult for someone of his calibre to make the shift. He has got the mindset and the understanding of the game to go up the order or bat at number 4."
Badami also praised young all-rounder Nigam for his performance so far. “He is somebody we've scouted in the last 6-8 months prior to the auction and we believe that he will go on to be a good player in time. He's already doing very well. But I think there's a massive upside to him. You will get to hear of his progress, not just with the ball, but also with the bat. He's already done that with the bat once but I genuinely feel that he will do it more often," the 48-year-old said.
Delhi Capitals will next be up against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their fourth match of IPL 2025 in Bengaluru on Thursday (April 10).
Brief Scores: Delhi Capitals 183/6 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 77, Abishek Porel 33; Khaleel Ahmed 2-25, Ravindra Jadeja 1-19) beat Chennai Super Kings 158/5 in 20 overs (Vijay Shankar 69 not out, MS Dhoni 30 not out; Vipraj Nigam 2-27, Mitchell Starc 1-27) by 25 runs.
