IPL PIX: CSK rout Delhi to set up final against Mumbai

Images from the Qualifier 2 match of the Indian Premier League in Visakhapatnam, on Friday.

• Scorecard

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings produced a clinical performance to beat Delhi Capitals by six wickets and enter their eighth final of the Indian Premier League.

CSK dished out a disciplined bowling and fielding effort to first restrict Delhi Capitals to 147 for nine and then chased down the target with ease, cruising to 151 for four in 19 overs.

Dwayne Bravo (2/19), Ravindra Jadeja (2/23), Deepak Chahar (2/28) and Harbhajan Singh (2/31) shared eight wickets between them to keep Delhi Capitals in check after the champions had opted to bowl.

CSK will play Mumbai Indians in the final in Hyderabad on Sunday.

The two teams have played each other three times in IPL finals, with MI finishing on the winning side twice while the Chennai came out triumphant once. While CSK won the final in 2010, MI finished on the winning side in 2013 and 2015.
     
CSK will be hoping to end their losing run against Mumbai Indians in IPL-12, having lost their three games this year, including Qualifier 1.

This will be the fourth final between CSK and Mumbai Indians, with both teams having won three IPL titles each.

CSK started off slowly before du Plessis and Watson hit 50 each, to lay the foundation as they put on 81 runs for the opening wicket, from 62 balls.

Du Plessis continued his good form, hitting his fourth century of IPL-12, while Watson got back among the runs as he hit a 32-ball 50, after starting off slowly.

Du Plessis was the aggressor among the duo, scoring 50 off 39 balls with the help of seven boundaries and one six while Watson played the second fiddle initially.

But just after notching up his 12th IPL fifty, Du Plessis departed while going for a big shot over deep square-leg off Trent Boult.

After Du Plessis' dismissal, Watson took the centrestage and struck Paul for one four and three sixes to pile up 25 runs off the 12th over and also registered his half-century off 31 balls in the process.

Watson looked in a hurry to finish off the chase and that eventually led to his downfall, caught by Boult off Amit Mishra at long-off

Suresh Raina (11) and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (9) perished cheaply but CSK cruised to a comfortable victory in the penultimate over.

Earlier, Chennai Super Kings dished out a clinical bowling effort to restrict Delhi Capitals to 147 for nine.

Delhi made a shaky start with Prithvi Shaw (5) and Shikhar Dhawan (18 off 14) adding 21 runs in 2.3 overs before the former was trapped leg before wicket by pacer Chahar.

Shaw's dismissal opened the floodgates as Delhi lost three wickets in quick time to slump to 75 for four in 11.3 overs.

Dhawan was the next to depart, caught by Mahendra Singh Dhoni off Harbhajan before Colin Munro (27) was caught by at deep midwicket off Jadeja as the South African went for a slog sweep.

Skipper Shreyas Iyer (13 of 18) tried to anchor the innings but he too fell while going for a big shot, caught by Suresh Raina off Imran Tahir in the 12th over.

To make matters worse for Delhi, new man in Axar Patel departed in the next over, hitting a short delivery of Bravo straight to Tahir at third man.

Rishabh Pant (38 off 25) and Sherfane Rutherford (10) shared 22 runs for the sixth wicket but CSK didn't allow the Delhi outfit to get any momentum, picking up wickets at regular intervals to rattle their innings.

Rutherford became Harbhajan's second victim, followed by Keemo Paul who was cleaned up by Bravo's perfect yorker in the 18th over.

The onus was on hard-hitting Pant to take Delhi to a challenging total but he too failed to cope up with the pressure, caught by Bravo at long-on off Chahar.

Towards the end, Amit Mishra (6 not out) and Ishant Sharma (10 not out off 3 balls) used their long handles to great effect and struck some lusty blows to take the Delhi side close to the 150-run mark.

• Indian Premier League, 2019