A steady knock from Shikhar Dhawan and a blitz from Shimron Hetmeyer down the order helped the Delhi Capitals (DC) defeat the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by three wickets to go top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) points table. 

Chasing a 137-run target, Dhawan helped stabilise the innings with a composed 39 from 35 deliveries after the Capitals lost Prithvi Shaw (18), Shreyas Iyer (2) and skipper Rishabh Pant (15) within the first nine overs. 

Debutant Ripal Patel (18) could only accompany the southpaw in the middle for a short while before being caught by Deepak Chahar off Ravindra Jadeja. Ravichandran Ashwin (2) also failed to make a mark against Chennai, as he was bowled by Shardul Thakur. 

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Thakur then dealt a big blow to Delhi’s hopes, when he dismissed the well-set Dhawan with an overpitched delivery outside off, which Dhawan chip to Moeen Ali at extra cover. 

However, Hetmeyer stood up for Delhi when it mattered, scoring 28 runs from 18 deliveries. The Guyanese cricketer rode his luck, after being dropped at 12 by Krishnappa Gowtham, to score two fours and one six as he got last-year’s finalists on the brink of victory. 

The contest went down to a dramatic last over as Delhi needed six runs to win from six balls. After conceding four runs off the first two deliveries, the second of which was a wide, Bravo dismissed Axar Patel to make things interesting. 

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But Kagiso Rabada sent the ball trickling to the third man boundary off the fourth delivery to send Delhi above the three-time champions. 

Earlier, a typical disciplined showing from the Delhi bowlers helped them restrict the Super Kings to just 136 runs from 20 overs. Axar Patel and Anrich Nortje removed Chennai’s in-form openers Faf du Plessis (10) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (13) in the third and fifth over respectively. 

Robin Uthappa (19) was caught and bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin, before Patel removed Moeen Ali (5). Ambati Rayudu top-scored for Chennai with a 43-ball 55 as skipper MS Dhoni (17) failed to find form again.