Sanju Samson smashed a hundred to lead Chennai Super Kings to their first win of the IPL season after three straight defeats as they beat Delhi Capitals by 23 runs on Saturday.
India’s T20 World Cup hero Samson hit an unbeaten 115 for his fourth IPL ton and first for Chennai to steer the team to 212-2 at their M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Samson, who survived a dropped catch on 52, delighted the crowd with 15 fours and four sixes in a brilliant 56-ball innings.
England all-rounder Jamie Overton then took four wickets after Delhi made a bright start to their chase as Chennai bowled out their opponents for 189.
Overton grabbed the crucial wickets of Delhi top-scorer Tristan Stubbs for 60 and his South Africa international teammate David Miller.
Samson, who was traded from Rajasthan Royals to Chennai ahead of the campaign, made his first major contribution with the bat after failures in their previous three losses.
“I failed a lot,” said Samson. “Failing a lot tells you how to come back. Mentally, you think if you need to go hard or change the game-plan.”
He came into the IPL under huge expectations after starring with three half-centuries in the last three matches of India’s T20 World Cup triumph on home soil in March.
Samson put on 113 runs for the second wicket with Ayush Mhatre, who was retired out on 59.
Shivam Dube, who clubbed 20 off 10 balls, stitched together an unbeaten stand of 37 with Samson as the hosts finished their innings strongly.
“It was a very good batting wicket,” said Delhi skipper Axar Patel. “But as I said, if we hadn’t dropped one or two catches in the field, the result could have been different.”
Pathum Nissanka made 41 for Delhi but they soon fell behind the required run-rate after the wickets of the Sri Lanka opener and KL Rahul, for 18, in quick succession.
Miller and fellow South African Stubbs attempted to pull things back for the visitors but Overton had other ideas.
He removed Sameer Rizvi for six and Miller, bowled for 17, and his wicket of Stubbs in the 19th over ended any hopes for Delhi.
Iyer takes Punjab past Hyderabad
In the first match of the day, Shreyas Iyer led from the front with an unbeaten 69 to steer Punjab Kings to a six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Openers Priyansh Arya, who hit 57 from 20 balls, and Prabhsimran Singh (51) set up Punjab’s chase of 220 in a stand of 99 before Iyer took over in Chandigarh.
It was Punjab’s 10th successful IPL chase of over 200.
Punjab registered their third win in four matches to stay unbeaten. They shared the points with Kolkata Knight Riders in a rained-off match.
Source: Khaleej Times