IPL: CSK go six years without chasing a 180-plus target

By Sampath Bandarupalli, April 6: 2010 Delhi Capitals (DC) defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Chepauk for the first time since their six-wicket win in 2010. The Delhi franchise won the first two matches against CSK at this venue in 2008 and 2010 but had lost seven in a row before Saturday.

The seven-match winning streak for CSK against this opponent in Chennai is the joint second-longest for any team against an opponent at a particular venue in the IPL. CSK's eight-match winning streak against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Chepauk is the longest, which also came to a halt earlier this season.

10 CSK have failed to chase a target of 180-plus in their last ten attempts, dating back to 2020. Three teams have had a longer streak of failing to chase 180-plus targets in the IPL - 15 by Punjab Kings (2015 to 2021), 12 by RCB (2019 to 2023) and 11 by Sunrisers Hyderabad (2020 to 2023).

25 runs, the margin of CSK's defeat on Saturday. Only four teams have suffered a heavier loss despite losing only five or fewer wickets in 20 overs while chasing a target of 200 or less in the IPL.

2018 Previous instance of CSK chasing down a target of 180 or more runs in the IPL - against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Pune, where they hunted down 180 with eight wickets in hand. CSK had a win-loss record of 9-9 while chasing 180-plus targets until that point.

ESPNcricinfo Ltd

9.2 Number of overs batted by Vijay Shankar and MS Dhoni during their sixth-wicket stand. It is the second-longest unbeaten partnership to end up on the losing side in an IPL chase, behind the 9.4 overs partnership by Kedar Jadhav and Saurabh Tiwary in 2015. The duo added 91 runs for Delhi Daredevils' fifth wicket against SRH but fell seven runs short of the 164-run chase.

84* The unbeaten 84-run stand between Vijay and Dhoni is the highest for CSK in the IPL for the sixth wicket or lower.

120.74 Strike rate of the CSK's top three batters in 180-plus chases since 2020. It is by far the lowest among all ten teams, with the next worst being 139.09 by SRH. CSK's top order averages 17.86 in the 180-plus chases since 2020, also the lowest.

20.23 Percentage of Dhoni's runs in CSK's wins since the start of IPL 2023. In this period, Dhoni has batted 13 times in the wins and scored 69 runs at an average of 13.80, but in defeats, he has 272 runs in 14 innings, at an average of 90.66.