Ruturaj Gaikwad and Robin Uthappa’s century stand laid the base for CSK, rendering fifties from Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant in vain.
Chennai Super Kings 173 for 6 (Gaikwad 70, Uthappa 63*, T Curran 3-29) beat Delhi Capitals 172 for 5 (Shaw 60, Pant 51*, Hazlewood 2-29) by four wickets
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Robin Uthappa put on 110 for the second wicket and MS Dhoni rolled back the clock with a finishing act as Chennai Super Kings qualified for their ninth IPL final, beating league-stage toppers Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 1.
After the second-wicket stand had laid the platform for Super Kings in a chase of 173, the middle order stuttered before Dhoni came in with Super Kings needing 23 off 11. He played his first ball with them needing 19 off 9 and missed it. The next ball from Avesh Khan was clobbered over the midwicket boundary, and Dhoni then had strike against Tom Curran with 13 to get off 5.
Curran was Capitals’ most successful bowler of the night at that point, but boundaries from Dhoni – even if one was an inside edge – off the next two balls put the pressure squarely on him; that resulted in a wide, and eventually, the half-tracker slower ball that Dhoni swung to the leg-side boundary to seal the win with two balls to spare.
ESPN Cricinfo
