Pant hits high notes in Delhi's win, Dhoni effort too late

It wasn't a nail-biting T20 thriller, but one which had so many spectacular moments to savour for the capacity crowd at Visakhapatnam. 

They got to see Rishabh Pant's first comeback fifty, Matheesha Pathirana's two magic balls, Khaleel Ahmed's powerplay excellence in a match dominated by Delhi Capitals, who won by 20 runs at their second home venue on Sunday night.

But what they had all come in big numbers wearing yellow was to watch MS Dhoni, whose first big heroic moment for India had come in the coastal city 20 years ago. Dhoni couldn't take CSK over the line but his 37* (16b) cameo, returning to competitive cricket after 307 days, gave the assembled fans as much joy.

CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad said with a straight face at the toss that it was going to be a home game for them. DC, playing at their second home, may have noted it down. Their openers – the reunited duo of Dave Warner and Prithvi Shaw -- began in all earnest.

They put CSK bowlers to the sword through the first half of their innings. Until Pathirana's stunning diving catch ended Warner's power-packed fifty in the 10th over, the right-left batting combine had bulldozed their way to 95 inside the first 10.

Getting the best out of Shaw can sometimes feel like a management exercise. For some reason, despite their limitations from the Indian batting crop, Shaw was dropped by the Ricky Ponting coached DC from the first two matches. The thrill-a-minute opener survived an outside edge, which didn't carry to slips off the fourth ball he faced. It took him an unusually long nine balls to find his first boundary. Then he was away. He hit the in-form Mustafizur Rehman for three boundaries in an over. Never allowing Ravindra Jadeja's spinning deliveries to curve away, Shaw got down on one knee and sent the India left-arm spinner into the stands over mid-wicket.

While he was at it, Warner was doing Warner things – tearing into Deepak Chahar, slog-sweeping Jadeja. Warner and Shaw together had begun to make a symphony of sounds before the former's ambitious reverse ramp proved to be his undoing on 52 (35b,5x4,3x6). Shaw 43 (27b,4x4,6x2) followed Warner soon after, his perennial career undoing.

For once, DC batters kept going. For once, DC management got their batting order right. Rishabh Pant walked out to bat at No.3 to carry the momentum forward. Mitchell Marsh came in at No.4. Axar Patel batted inside the top six. Which is why even when they were hit by Pathirana's storming 15th over, DC weren't derailed and 56 came off the death overs to push them up to 191.

In the 15th over, the Lasith Malinga-clone first disturbed Marsh's middle-stump with a near yorker length 150 kph delivery. Two balls later, he altered his length slightly to make it perfect yorker length, bowled with the same velocity and took down Tristan Stubbs' off-stump.

It was DC captain Pant who took charge in the slog overs. Going run-a-ball for the first 24 balls he faced, the left-hander went 4-1-6-1-2-6-4-4-W after that. One handed sixes, out-of-position boundaries, slice cuts past point, even the helicopter was out; Pant batted close to his best in that brief spell of play, bringing up his first fifty – 51 (32b, 4x4, 3x6) - after spending over 14 months away from the sport.

When DC bowled, Khaleel Ahmed was so good in the powerplay (3-1-9-2) that it was difficult to take the ball off him. Bowling three overs on the trot, the left-armer found the swing that Chahar, the more accomplished exponent of the skill, couldn't earlier in the evening. After taking Gaikwad's inside edge to the 'keeper, Khaleel troubled Rachin Ravindra, repeatedly beating his outside edge. By the time Rachin's 12-ball stay ended – his mishit ended in mid-off's hands -- one could see it coming.

CSK had a powerplay (23/2) which resembled more like an ODI start. Ajinkya Rahane combined some good-looking touch shots with a few back-foot lofted hits during his 45 (30b). But his 45-ball 68 run stand with Daryll Mitchell (34) never hit top gear.

Mukesh Kumar, who got the ball only in the 14th over, virtually closed the match with his twin strikes of Rahane and Sameer Rizvi, leaving CSK half the side down with too many to get.