Kannan Nair
- May 20, 2023
- 4 min read

IPL 2023, DC vs CSK: Conway, Gaikwad take CSK to record 12th playoffs; close to top-two finish

IPL 2023, Delhi Capitals (DC) vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK): Ruturaj Gaikwad-Devon Conway's 141-run stand, Deepak Chahar's 3-22 and David Warner's 86 are top performances. CSK beat Delhi Capitals and becomes only franchise to enter playoffs 12 times in the history.

IPL 2023, DC vs CSK, Top Performances_ Devon Conway-Ruturaj Gaikwad added 141-run for 1st wicket; CSK beat DC _ Walking wicket (Images_ ©IPL_Twitter)

Conway-Gaikwad added 141-run for 1st wicket (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

Brief Scores: CSK 223-3 (Conway 87, Gaikwad 79; Sakariya 1-36) beat DC 146-9 (Warner 86, Axar 15; Chahar 3-22) by 77 runs.

The 67th Match of Tata IPL 2023 between Chennai Super Kings and Delhi Capitals was ready to give us our 2nd team to play in the playoff with a win for CSK meaning they will secure a playoff place. Chennai Super Kings became the first team in the history of IPL to play all their 14 matches in their home ground as the “Dhoni Mania” continued in Arun Jaitley Stadium too with more ‘Yelove’ fans than the red and blue. Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first on this dryish wicket.

Player Of The Match: Ruturaj Gaikwad (79 off 50)

The Energy Hyped With CSK’s Ruturaj- Devon’s Innings Against Delhi

The fantabulous opening stand for CSK continued as Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway flurried with 141 runs stand for the opening stand inside 15 overs. The opening partnership already put CSK ahead in the game as they accumulated 148 runs in 15 overs. Lalit Yadav was tonked for 19 runs in the 16th over and CSK carried on with the momentum with three sixes from Shivam Dube. Though Conway was dismissed on 87, Jadeja’s seven balls and 20 runs ensured CSK crossed the 200-run mark to end up with 223-3 at the end of 20 overs.

Delhi Capital were back to their original self as their opener Prithvi Shaw gifted a wicket in the second over of the innings. The top order folded under pressure again after one odd good innings in the previous match, as both Phil Salt and Rilee Rossouw were dismissed on consecutive deliveries. Chasing 224, they needed their captain to fire which he did but all the other batters had already given up on any hope of chasing this mammoth total down as Deepak Chahar was the star with the ball for CSK inside the power play and the 2nd half specialist Matheesha Patheerana was the star between overs 10 to 20 to restrict the flow of runs for DC, as CSK won by humongous 77 runs to qualify for the playoffs.

Talking Points: CSK’s Top Order Still Maintains The Hope

CSK’s top order continued their superb run of form scoring yet another 100+ run partnership. Deepak Chahar’s wicket-taking ability inside the power play was on display. For DC, it was the same old story of the season only Warner firing and the rest of the batting order falling like a deck of cards.

Top Three Performances from DC vs CSK

Devon-Raj’ed at the Arun Jaitley Stadium with a 141 runs partnership

It was the Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad show in Delhi today. The left-hand right-hand combo destroyed Delhi’s bowling attack with shots all around the ground. The wicket was supposedly dry and was predicted to aid the spinners, however, the way Gaikwad’s inside-out shots forced the spinners to bowl short to which he rocked on the backfoot tonking sixes over mid-wicket resulted in Axar-Kuldeep not completing their quota of overs. Gaikwad brought up his 14th IPL fifty and became surpassed Michael Hussey’s 13 fifty to become second in the list of most fifties for CSK.

Conway complemented the Gaikwad really well as he took on the fast bowlers like Khaleel and Nortje to ensure the assault was on from both the end, the duo completed their 4th 100+ partnership in IPL and with this 141 runs, this became the fourth-highest opening stand for CSK’s history.

IPL 2023, DC vs CSK, Top Performances CSK beat Delhi Capitals and qualify for the 12th time in IPL history _ Walking wicket (Images_ ©IPL_Twitter)

CSK beat Delhi Capitals and qualify for playoffs 12th time (Images: ©IPL/Twitter)

Deepak Chahar breaks Delhi’s back inside the power play

Chasing 224, Delhi needed a solid contribution from the top four. That wasn’t the case here as Deepak Chahar did what he does best. Chahar with his accurate and astute bowling first dismissed the dangerous Phil Salt for just three runs where he was early on the shot to end up with a leading edge. He then doubled it up with a wicket of the very next delivery dismissing Rilee Roussow who tried to play a forced cut shot only to get an inside edge back onto the stumps. Chahar bowled three inside the power play to pick two crucial wickets and then came back in the 14th over to send Axar Patel back to the pavilion to put the final nail in the coffin in his last spell to end up with three wickets giving just 22 runs.

IPL 2023, DC vs CSK, Top Performances_ David Warner's 86 goes in vain as CSK beat DC _ Walking wicket (Images_ ©IPL_Twitter)

David Warner’s 86 runs go in vain for Delhi

The vintage Warner was on display today at the Arun Jaitley Stadium as he was timing the ball as sweetly as one could. David Warner played cautiously first inside the power play after the fall of back-to-back wickets. As soon as the spinner came on, Warner changed gears and clobbered both Theekshana and Jadeja all over the park. The other DC batters bowed and bowed down to CSK bowlers from one end but Warner ensured the team didn’t suffer an embarrassing loss to CSK. Though Warner scored 86 runs, his valiant efforts weren’t enough to sail his team toward the victory lines.

Points Table Scenario & What's Next

CSK became the second team to qualify and almost secured the second position with a mammoth 77 runs win. A big margin win means, when LSG take on KKR in the 68th Match on 20th May, 7:30 PM game, they have to win by 77+18 runs to go above CSK in terms of NRR. It would be a virtual knock-out for KKR.

IPL 2023 Points Table