Karthik leads Daredevils to a strong 178/5 against CSK

NEW DELHI: Dinesh Karthik led a collective batting effort with a fighting 51 as Delhi Daredevils scored a competitive 178 for five against Chennai Super Kings in an IPL clash on Monday.
It was one of the better pitches seen at Kotla in recent times, making it possible to have a good contest between ball and bat. Initially it helped pacers while gradually stroke-making became easier.
Karthik combined well with Murali Vijay (35) for a splendid 71-run partnership for the third wicket after a shaky start.
JP Duminy (28 no) and Kedar Jadhav (29 no) provided superb finishing touches with their fiery cameos as DD put on their best total of the season on board after being put into bat.
Duminy blasted paceman Mohit Sharma for four boundaries in a row in the 18th over while Jadhav finished the innings with a flourish by hitting the same bowler for two sixes and a four in the final over. The two batsmen raised an unbeaten 58-run stand in only 5.4 overs.
The DD openers took some time to settle as the ball was seaming a bit initially but after getting their eye in, they cut loose. Young paceman Ishwar Pandey bowled a rare maiden over but he was taken to task in his next by Quinton de Kock, who hit him for two sixes after Vijay struck a magnificent straight boundary.
The South African southpaw needlessly ran himself out while attempting a third run.
Skipper Kevin Pietersen failed to come out of his lean patch as he was dismissed for a golden duck. The England batsman failed to read the line of a Mohit delivery and found his stumps shattered in the process.
Despite losing two quick wickets, Daredevils maintained a decent run rate, if not great. Karthik creamed off a six and four off Ravindra Jadeja to take 13 runs in the ninth over and one of Vijay's shots rocketed to the cover boundary as the hosts reached 75 for 2 at half-way stage.
The Tamil Nadu batsmen continued the same way against pacemen as he hammered a full toss from Mohit Sharma to mid-wicket six after hitting a straight boundary off the same bowler.
Karthik completed his 50 with a majestic cover drive. This was after he had lofted the Australian paceman with a well-calculated paddle for a six.
However, his brilliant innings was a cut short when Mohit plucked one inches off the ground in the last ball of that over. Vijay, from the other end, kept scoring at a brisk pace. His switch-hit off Ashwin was a treat to watch. The hosts though lost him too when he failed to connect off Jadeja while attempting a straight shot.
Two set batsmen were back in the dug out and it did affect DD's run scoring. They also lost Laxmi Ratan Shukla (0) trying an ugly looking hoick.
But Duminy brought respectability to the total with his fiery knock towards the end. He blasted Mohit for four consecutive bolundaries to reel of 17 runs from the 18th over.