IPL 2023: Chennai Super Kings Seal Playoff Berth With 77-Run Win Over Delhi Capitals

Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Deepak Chahar brought their 'A' game to the fore as Chennai Super Kings cantered to a 77-run crushing victory over Delhi Capitals to seal an IPL play-off berth in Delhi on Saturday. Playing a must-win game, Conway (87 off 52) and Gaikwad (79 off 50) smashed brilliant half-centuries to help Chennai Super Kings post a challenging 223/3 after captain MS Dhoni opted to bat. Skipper David Warner, DC's best batter this season, waged a lone battle, scoring 86 off 58 deliveries. But in the end the home team could manage only 146/9 in 20 overs after Chahar dealt a killer blow removing a couple of top-order batters within Powerplay overs.

It was another shameful performance from DC batters as save Warner, none of the others could cross individual score of 15. The profligate Indian core of likes of Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Lalit Patel and Aman Hakim Khan continued to embarrass and never looked like belonging to this level.

Even the crowd was supporting the visitors as it continued to chant 'Dhoni Dhoni' through out the game and even cheered when Delhi lost wickets.

Chahar (3/22) was the standout bowler for the visitors while Maheesh Theekshana (2/23) picked up two wickets in the last over With the win, CSK moved up to 17 points and become the second team to move to the qualifiers.

With a net run rate of 0.652 CSK are likely to finish in the top two as only Lucknow Super Giants, who play Kolkata Knight Riders later in the evening, can finish on 17 points and they have a NRR of 0.304.

Conway and Gaikwad came all guns blazing, hitting boundaries and sixes at will at the tacky Kotla pitch. The two put on 141 runs for the opening stand and smashed a total of 14 fours and 10 sixes.

Delhi's 2023 IPL