CSK vs DC, IPL 2023 Highlights: Chennai brush Delhi away with 27-run win

Conway smashes the fourth ball of the third down the pitch and that is his first four of the evening. This is right after he just about survives a DRS against an LBW decision that was not given.

Gaikwad edges the fifth ball again and it flies through the vacant gully region to the boundary. Another leg cutter from Ishant for the last ball and this time, Gaikwad places it past point. Ishant conceded 16 runs in that over, he probably deserved at least a wicket instead.

Was that well played from Gaikwad or just plain lucky? Whatever be the case, it does the job. Gaikwad opens the face of the bat and tries to play it fine, ends up taking an edge and goes just too fine. It pitched just in front of the diving Phil Salt, seems to have grazed his glove and run behind to the boundary.

Some sharp work in the field from DC, indicative of the fact that they are a team who have turned a corner now. Ishant Sharma to bowl the second over.

Ruturaj Gaikwad facing up with Devon Conway at the other end. My word haven't they had a few destructive stands this season. Khaleel Ahmed is bowling the first over for DC.

DC: Mukesh Kumar, Manish Pandey, Praveen Dubey, Abishek Porel, Chetan Sakariya

CSK: Matheesha Pathirana, Subhranshu Senapati, Mitch Santner, Akash Singh, Shaik Rasheed

David Warner(c), Philip Salt(w), Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, Axar Patel, Aman Hakim Khan, Ripal Patel, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Khaleel Ahmed, Ishant Sharma

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana

“Looks a little bit dry. The boys have come out with the right attitude. We had to work on our powerplay batting. Try and execute on this wicket as much as you can. Lalit comes in for Manish Pandey.”

“We will bat first. We have played a few games on this wicket. There are chances of this wicket slowing down. We can't complain about this track. We try to keep it simple. We try to keep reiterating the same thing. Try to accomplish your plan. Try to execute your plans.”

MS Dhoni has won the toss and CSK bat first.

There is MS Dhoni and David Warner, Simon Doull conducting the toss. Here we go!

"Firstly, it's great to be out there. I didn't start in the team for the first few games, so to come into the side and to put a couple of performances together, I am really happy with that. To win us the game, even happier. You have to get your head around the different conditions and different sorts of wickets, the surfaces you might play on. I made a couple of small technical adjustments but nothing too wholesale, So far so good. I am loving it (tournament), I am taking in as much as I can. We've got an unbelievable coaching staff here. To have Punter and Watto, just to name a couple, is unbelievable for myself. They've played so much cricket, they know so much about the game. It's about trying to get as much as I can out of them everyday. (DC's approach) Every game realistically for us is a final, same as the last game so nothing changes in that regard. The mentality has to be the same. We know Chennai are a very strong side, especially at home. Not many teams come here and win. If we are going to get the points today, we have to go out, play positively and really take it to them."

Simon Doull and Matthew Hayden talk about the pitch and conditions. "Gorgeous evening here in Chennai. 61 metres and 68 metres (square boundaries), 75 metres downtown. As usual here in Chennai, it (pitch) is nice and dry, it's very hard but a little hollow and it just begs the question of why there are so many runs that we are actually seeing here at Chepauk this year. Is it going to turn? That's the thing I am going to be looking at when it comes to this wicket and I believe it is. This year, it has turned less than previous years - just 2 degrees - and a lot of it is because it's been very hard. At the moment, it's looking like it's dry. Couple of days of rain, but it's dry and even though it won't crumble too much, I am gonna bat first. This is going to break up a little bit as the evening goes on."

"I don't think I've ever been involved in a tournament where the table is so tight. So it would be so dangerous to start looking ahead and start thinking about a final finishing position because if you take your eye off, then we'll get ourselves into trouble. So it's not even been a topic of conversation at all. Obviously, we're dreaming about it [the Playoffs]. And hoping, but there's a lot of hard work to be done before."

CSK steamrolled Mumbai Indians by six wickets on Saturday evening, Capitals took down a 188-run target against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 16.4 overs the same night.

CSK are second in the league table at the moment but they are also just three points ahead of the third last team PBKS. CSK are on 13 points after which come MI on 12 and then LSG at 11. RR, KKR, RCB and PBKS are all on 10 points after which come SRH and DC on 8 points each. A win today for CSK would hence given them a lot of necessary breathing room while a win for DC can help them put their hat into the big 10-point traffic jam.

DC have CSK and history to beat so as to get two points today. They last beat CSK at Chepauk in 2010 and have lost six matches in succession since.

"Well obviously the balance that Phil [Salt] provides as a wicket-keeper is a starting point and knowing is his scoring ability when he's able to get in and get going. And we just knew the way he plays, you're just gonna have to be patient because he is fairly high risk with the way he bats. But that also makes him so incredibly dangerous when up and going like, we've seen the games where he scored the runs into the two 50s that he's got, it's against world-class bowling and he's taking him down."

Half century or almost nothing is how Phil Salt has gone thus far but he has certainly made an impact at the top of the order for DC, apart from finally giving them stability in the wicketkeeping slot. Salt's season started off with a duck, he then scored 59 off 35 against the same SRH who had got him out for a duck. Then came another duck, this time against the Gujarat Titans, followed by a blistering 87 off 45 balls that was instrumental in DC's comprehensive win over RCB in their last match. Wonder which Salt we will get to see today. 

Anrich Nortje had to fly back home to South Africa for a personal emergency and so he is unavailable for the match against CSK. Shane Watson had said that Nortje could return for later matches. He has taken seven wickets this season in eight matches.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Deepak Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Tushar Deshpande, Maheesh Theekshana, Ambati Rayudu, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Akash Singh, Ben Stokes, Dwaine Pretorius, Sisanda Magala, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, RS Hangargekar, Bhagath Varma, Nishant Sindhu

David Warner(c), Philip Salt(w), Mitchell Marsh, Rilee Rossouw, Manish Pandey, Aman Hakim Khan, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Khaleel Ahmed, Chetan Sakariya, Lalit Yadav, Ripal Patel, Praveen Dubey, Abishek Porel, Sarfaraz Khan, Lungi Ngidi, Mustafizur Rahman, Anrich Nortje, Rovman Powell, Priyam Garg, Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Vicky Ostwal

With so many reverse fixtures taking place it is quite strange to find two teams meeting each other for the first time at this time of the season but that is what we have here. In fact, we are bound to have a few of those in these last matches of the league stage considering how the IPL schedule was tailored so as to ensure that the 10-team tournament does not end up taking up half the cricket calendar. We haven't reached that stage yet after all, international cricket still has some relevance. And so here we are, with DC and CSK meeting each other for the first time this season. DC's much vaunted batting lineup finally came together in their previous match in explosive fashion and CSK will know that their good form throughout the season will count for nothing if that is allowed to happen today.