It’s that time of the IPL when the experienced and the calm-headed pull away from the bunch. On Saturday, the veterans of the tournament came into their own. The young boys were secondary in a game that was fought equally in the mind and with skills. At the end of the day, Shikhar Dhawan‘s experience alone proved enough for Delhi Capitals against the collective wisdom of Chennai Super Kings as his superlative unbeaten hundred anchored a chase of the 180-run target with five wickets in hand.
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The most experienced IPL player in an otherwise young and up and coming Capitals outfit, Dhawan dished out a masterclass. An innings which stamped his authority, Dhawan showed why he remains Team India’s first choice white-ball opener even as a herd of openers are pushing their cases through performances in the IPL. It was a single-handed effort till the 19th over. Out came Axar Patel and smacked three sixes off Ravindra Jadeja in the last over to knock off the remaining 17 runs with a ball to spare and ensured Dhawan’s maiden IPL century didn’t go in vain. Dhawan walked out relieved with a chest-thumping 101 off 58 balls.

CSK needed to get Dhawan’s wicket but the seasoned opener played a measured knock. The short Sharjah boundaries notwithstanding, Dhawan hit just one six albeit CSK will be kicking themselves for putting him down thrice.
Chennai Super Kings, known for their shrewd understanding of the game as a bunch, laid a solid foundation for their revival in the tournament through Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson despite losing the hot Sam Curran off the third ball of the match. Once the duo put on a partnership of 87, it was Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja flaunting their cricketing smarts to help Chennai Super Kings post a challenging target of 180.

Against a penetrative Delhi Capitals bowling attack, the word panic was eliminated from CSK’s game as Du Plessis went about pacing his innings of 58 off 47 as Watson finished with 36 of 28. Then Rayudu and Jadeja cranked up the heat against two of the fastest pacers in the tournament in Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje with unbeaten 25-ball 45 and 13-ball 33 respectively to put on 50 off the last 21 balls.