IPL 2019 Qualifier 2, Chennai vs Delhi: As it Happened

Image Credits: Twitter/@BCCI

Chennai booked their place in the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the record eighth time after thrashing Delhi by six wickets in Qualifier 2 at the Dr Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Friday.

With the win, Chennai have now set up a summit showdown clash against Mumbai, who defeated the MS Dhoni-led side by the same margin in Qualifier 1 at MA Chidambaram Stadium. 

Here are the highlights:

# Chennai beat Delhi by 6 wickets! Chennai 151/4 (19 overs)

# WICKET! With just two runs needed to seal the victory, Dhoni looked to seal winning runs off the fourth delivery of the 19th over from Ishant Sharma but ended up handing it to straight to Keemo Paul at deep square leg. Chennai 146/4 (18.4 overs)

# Skipper MS Dhoni is the new batsman in! 

# WICKET! Suresh Raina (11) was bowled out by Axar Patel off the last delivery of the 16th over. Chennai now need 21 runs off 24 balls. Chennai 127/3 (16 overs)

# Ambati Rayudu is the new batsman in!

# WICKET! Mishra strikes for Delhi. Watson (50) drove the second delivery of the 13th over inside-out but failed to carry it as far as he wanted to as Boult took a simple catch to get rid of the Australian. Chennai 111/2 (13 overs)

# Suresh Raina is the new batsman in! 

# WICKET! Soon after bringing up a fifty, Du Plessis was caught by Keemo Paul at deep square leg off the second delivery of the 11th over. Chennai 83/1 (11 overs)

# Du Plessis has brought up his 12th half-century of the IPL off just 37 balls. He achieved the feat by slamming the third delivery of the 10th over to long-on for one run. Chennai 81/0 (10 overs)

# Keemo Paul was brought into the attack in order to break the opening partnership, but he ended up conceding 16 runs to Chennai. Subsequently, Dhoni-led side added eight runs in the ninth over from Amit Mishra to reduce the chase 76 runs off 11 overs. Chennai 72/0 (9 overs)

# Ishant Sharma bowled an expensive sixth over of 15 runs before Amit Mishra gave away just six runs to Chennai. Du Plessis and Watson continue to stand strong at the crease at their respective scores of 42 and 6, respectively and have reduced Chennai's chase to 100 runs off 13 overs. Chennai 48/0 (7 overs)

# Axar Patel comes into the attack! 

# 12 runs off the last two overs, including a boundary. Du Plessis opened his account by flicking the slower delivery from Ishant into the leg side for one run. Chennai need 135 runs from 17 overs. Chennai 13/0 (3 overs)

# A good tight over from Boult. Watson got off the mark by tapping the third delivery of the first over to point for one run, while Du Plessis is yet to open his account. Chennai 1/0 (1 over)

# Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson have walked down the crease to open Chennai's chase. Trent Boult to open the attack for Delhi. 

# Innings Break!

# Delhi set 148-run target for Chennai! Delhi 147/9 (20 overs)

# WICKET! Chahar strikes for Chennai. Pant looked to go for a big shot off the fourth delivery of the 19th over but failed to get enough distance and was caught by Bravo at long-on. Delhi 131/8 (19 overs)

# Amit Mishra is the new batsman in! 

# WICKET! Keemo Paul was bowled out by Bravo off the fifth delivery of the 18th over. Delhi 119/7 (18 overs)

# Keemo Paul is the new batsman in!

# WICKET! Harbhajan strikes again. Rutherford looked to hit the fifth delivery of the 16th over towards the covers again but ended up slicing it off the outside half of the bat into Watson's hands at short third man. Delhi 102/6 (16 overs)

# Sherfane Rutherford is the new batsman in!

 # WICKET! Patel was caught by Imran Tahir at third man off the fifth delivery of the 13th over from Bravo. The Delhi batsman went back to pavilion for three. Delhi  80/5 (13 overs)

# Axar Patel is the new batsman in!

# WICKET! Iyer went for the front-foot cut over square leg off the third delivery of the 12th over from Tahir, only to see Raina take a simple catch at backward point. Delhi 78/4 (12 overs)

# Rishabh Pant is the new batsman in!

# WICKET! Jadeja came into the attack and he delivered in his very first over by removing Munro for 27. The Delhi batsman looked to slog sweep the fifth delivery of the ninth over into the stands but failed to get enough distance as Bravo moved at deep square leg to take the catch. Delhi 59/3 (9 overs)

# Skipper Shreyas Iyer comes to bat in!

# Ravindra Jadeja comes into the attack. 

# WICKET! Harbhajan strikes for Chennai. Dhawan  (18) looked to hit the second delivery of the sixth over towards the third man as Dhoni but ended up getting a thick edge as the ball popped out of Dhoni's gloves at first before he grabbed the catch in his second attempt. Delhi 41/2 (6 overs)

# Colin Munro is the new batsman in!

# Harbhajan Singh comes into the attack!

# WICKET! Chahar gave the breakthrough to Chennai by removing opener Shaw for five. The Delhi batsman was caught leg before wicket off the second delivery of the third over. Delhi 25/1 (3 overs)

# Shardul Thakur came to bowl the second over and he conceded 13 runs to Delhi. Thakur, who was called up in the Playing XI in place of Murali Vijay, was smashed by Dhawan for two back-to-back boundaries. Delhi 20/0 (2 overs)

# Six runs off the very first over. Shaw got off the mark by hitting the fourth delivery from Chahar into space in front of cover point for one run, while Dhawan too opened his account by pulling back a single off the very next ball. Delhi 7/0 (1 over)

# Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw have walked down the crease to begin Chennai's innings. Deepak Chahar to open the attack for Chennai.

# Lineups: 

Delhi: Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer (capt), Colin Munro, Rishabh Pant (wk), Axar Patel, Sherfane Rutherford, Keemo Paul, Amit Mishra, Trent Boult, Ishant Sharma

Chennai: Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Deepak Chahar, Harbhajan Singh, Shardul Thakur,  Imran Tahir

# Chennai win the toss, opt to bowl first against Delhi! 

# The toss is all set to take place in a few minutes! 

# Chennai have picked the most wickets (55) with spin this season! 

# Chennai have won three out of seven away matches! 

Delhi who have finally come together to play like 'Daredevils', will have to produce another special effort to beat the consistent Chennai for the first time this season and make their maiden IPL final on Friday.

It was Chennai who denied Delhi a top-two spot in the league standings with a crushing 80-run win at Chepauk and the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led side stands in their way again, only stakes are much higher in the Qualifier 2.

Squads:

Chennai: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Faf du Plessis, Murali Vijay, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Shorey, Chaitanya Bishnoi, Rituraj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Karn Sharma, Imran Tahir, Harbhajan Singh, Mitchell Santner, Shardul Thakur, Mohit Sharma, K M Asif, Deepak Chahar, N Jagadeesan, Scott Kuggeleijn.

Delhi: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Prithvi Shaw, Shikhar Dhawan, Rishabh Pant(wicketkeeper), Colin Ingram, Keemo Paul, Axar Patel, Rahul Tewatia, Amit Mishra, Kagiso Rabada, Ishant Sharma, Hanuma Vihari, Ankush Bains, J Suchith, Manjot Kalra, Chris Morris, Sherfane Rutherford, Jalaj Saxena, Sandeep Lamichhane, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Nathu Singh, Bandaru Ayyappa, Colin Munro.

(With PTI Inputs)

Jadeja to Munro, OUT, swept straight into his lap! Munro wants to slog sweep this into the stands, but he can't get the distance in the shot, and Bravo barely has to move at deep square leg. Capitals are losing their way ...

Mishra to Watson, OUT, down the track comes Watson, and this time he's found the fielder. Mishra straightened his line, bowled it at middle and leg to cramp Watson slightly, and his lofted inside-out drive doesn't carry as far as he wanted

SR Watson c Boult b Mishra 50 (32b 3x4 4x6) SR: 156.25