Chennai fans felt the pang of their beloved Chinna Thala Suresh Raina’s absence from the Dream11 IPL 2020 as the side collapsed to a second consecutive defeat, this time against Delhi on Friday. Riding on Prithvi Shaw’s onslaught and their power-packed bowling attack, Delhi never allowed the Chennai batsmen to free their arms during their run-chase, thereby choking them to a 44-run victory at the end of the play. Apart from Faf du Plessis, Chennai’s batting order failed to pick steam yet again – with both openers Murali Vijay and Shane Watson departing early in the chase.
With Ambati Rayudu missing the last two outings and Rutraj Gaikwad’s forgettable outings, Chennai fans are craving for their Chinna Thala to return to the side. Suresh Raina, Chennai’s highest run-scorer, returned to India shortly before the IPL began due to personal reasons. With Suresh Raina gone, Chennai has not managed to find a suitable replacement for their number three batsman and fans are growing impatient for the southpaw’s game-after-game. Fans took to Twitter to ask Suresh Raina to return to the side.
Missing.. ! Without him the CSK batting order is completely disaster! ?
No One can Replace Raina! ☝️? @ImRaina pic.twitter.com/IlG0Zl9hIz
— Super Raina FC™ ?♂️? (@CSK_FanTweets) September 25, 2020
Dhoni and Csk without Raina pic.twitter.com/SBj9V45dCo
— Itachi (@Reymar10i) September 25, 2020
Bring back Raina .#Raina #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/FL8G2RE4BS
— Rohit Sheokand (Jaat Boy) (@RohitSheokand16) September 25, 2020
Lost Left right combo in Batting Reason why Sam and Jadeja Playing Up on the Order.
Inexperience in No3 place.
Missed a off spin ( Part time bowler ) while Leg spinners & Left arm bowlers bowling eco (8+).
Missing Sharp Fielding & encouragement @ImRaina | Comeback #Raina | pic.twitter.com/qBg1nD82AO
— South India RAINA Fan's (@raina_south) September 25, 2020
Chennai falter in run-chase
The Chennai batsmen failed to apply themselves as openers Shane Watson and Murali Vijay were dismissed before the Powerplay overs. Spinners Amit Mishra and Axar Patel made things difficult for the batsmen and even though Kedar Jadhav and Faf du Plessis added 54 runs for the fourth-wicket stand, they failed to keep up with the required run-rate as it kept on getting steeper and once Faf was dismissed, all Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja could do was delay the inevitable as they looked to reduce their deficit taking the Net-Run-Rate (NRR) into consideration. Jadeja was dismissed on the final ball of the match as the three-time winners were restricted to 131/7 in their 20 overs.
After being put in to bat by Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan added 94 runs for the opening wicket before Dhawan was trapped plumb in front of the wicket. Shaw and skipper Shreyas Iyer then rebuilt for Delhi. The young opener looked in great touch and at one point, it seemed that he would single-handedly take his team to a formidable total. However, that was not to be as he was outfoxed by veteran leggie Piyush Chawla for a stellar 64 (43).
Iyer and Pant then steadied the ship before an absolute screamer from his opposite number MS Dhoni behind the stumps ended his stay in the middle. A couple of crucial boundaries from Marcus Stoinis in the final over helped Delhi post a competitive total of 175/3 in their 20 overs.
Source: Free Press Journal
