Delhi Capitals (DC) took on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their final IPL 2023 league stage match on May 20, 2023, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. It was a must-win game for CSK who had 15 points with seven victories from 13 games.
DC, on the other hand, were the first team to be eliminated from the IPL 2023 playoffs race.
CSK captain MS Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat first. Openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway added a mammoth 141-run opening partnership. Ruturaj was the aggressor and scored 79 in 50 balls with 3 fours and 7 sixes, while Conway almost batted through scoring 87 with 3 sixes and 11 fours.
CSK finished with a huge 223/3 at the end of 20 overs, with Shivam Dube making 22 in 9 and Ravindra Jadeja smacking 20* in 7.
DC, in reply, saw only David Warner playing a valiant knock at one end, while there was a procession of wickets at the other end as Prithvi Shaw (5), Phil Salt (3), Rilee Russouw (0), Yash Dhull (13) and Akshar Patel (15) all fell trying to negotiate the disciplined CSK bowling.
David Warner scored 86 in 56 balls (5 sixes, 7 fours) with his fifty coming in 32 balls, as DC finished on 146/9 in 20 overs. This was the 7th time Warner went past the 500-plus runs mark in an IPL season, becoming the first batter to achieve this feat.
Deepak Chahar had broken the back of DC's batting early on picking 3/22 and then Maheesh Theekshana took 2/23 and Matheesha Pathirana took 2/22.
Thanks to this massive 77-run win, CSK amassed 17 points from 14 games and qualified for the IPL 2023 playoffs.
The cricket fraternity on Twitter lauded the MS Dhoni-led side who bounced back from the poor IPL 2022 outing to qualify for the playoffs this season.
Here are the tweets:
