By Prakash Nair 
Chennai, April 11: Nobody in that dressing room is saying it out loud. But everyone inside Chepauk tonight knew exactly what was riding on this innings.
Three games. Three losses. A team that has won this tournament five times is sitting at the very bottom of the table like it is some kind of cruel joke. And then Sanju Samson walked in, looked around at the packed yellow stands, and decided tonight was going to be different.
It was very, very different.
Samson made 115 not out. Off 57 balls. With 15 fours and three sixes. He did not just bat well tonight. He batted like a man who had been saving something up for exactly this moment. CSK ended their first innings past 200, and Delhi Capitals, who came here fancying their chances, spent twenty overs watching one of their former arch-rivals completely dismantle their bowling attack.
Before All That, There Was The Toss
Axar Patel won it and chose to bowl. Which made complete sense. Chepauk gets dew later in the evening, the ball gets greasy, spinners lose their grip, and chasing becomes easier. Standard Chepauk logic. Delhi had won both their matches this season chasing. Of course, they were going to bowl first.
What Axar could not have accounted for was the version of Samson that showed up.
The First Six Overs Were Basically A One-Man Show
Auqib Nabi Dar opened the bowling for Delhi. He is a young bowler, making his way in the IPL, and what happened to him in that first over was honestly a bit hard to watch.
Samson hit him for boundaries on consecutive deliveries like he was barely warming up. The crowd, which had been quiet and tense all week, suddenly remembered how to make noise. By the end of the powerplay, CSK were 61 without loss and Samson personally had 45 of those runs off just 19 balls.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was at the other end, looking more cautious, taking his time. He had 16 from the same number of deliveries at that stage, which in any other context would be fine. Against the backdrop of Samson’s blazing start, it just looked like a different gear entirely.
Gaikwad Goes. Mhatre Arrives. Nobody Slows Down.
The partnership ended in the seventh over when Axar Patel floated one up, and Gaikwad tried to go over the top at deep mid-wicket. He did not quite get hold of it. Pathum Nissanka took the catch, and Gaikwad walked off for 15. Not what the captain would have wanted, but honestly, the total was already in such a healthy position it barely mattered.
What happened next was a genuine bonus.
Ayush Mhatre, who is twenty years old and plays like he has not yet been told that big moments are supposed to make you nervous, came in at number three and immediately started playing his own game. Drives through the covers. Sixes over long-on. He was not trying to keep up with Samson. He was just batting.
The two of them put on 79 runs together. Delhi dropped both of them during that partnership. Two chances, both grassed, and you could see the collective deflation in the Delhi fielders each time it happened.
Mhatre retired out for 59 off 36 balls. Four sixes, three fours. Just a terrific innings from a kid who looks genuinely exciting.
The Century That Chepauk Had Been Waiting Three Weeks For
Samson kept going. Obviously.
He was in his 90s by the 17th over when Natarajan came on to bowl. Whatever plan Delhi had at that point, it did not work. Samson flicked, ramp-shotted, and drove his way to 99 and then with complete calm hit a boundary off the last ball of the over to reach his hundred.
Off came the helmet. Up went the bat. The roar from the Chepauk crowd was something you could probably hear in the next neighbourhood.
This was his first century for Chennai Super Kings. His fourth overall in the IPL. And given the circumstances, given three failures before this game, given a fanbase that has been quietly anxious for weeks now, given everything, it might just be the most meaningful one he has ever hit.
He finished 115 not out. Shivam Dube came in late and added some quick runs at the death. CSK crossed 200 for the third time this season, but the first time with something that felt like genuine momentum behind it.
What Delhi’s Bowlers Can Take Away From Tonight
Not much, to be honest.
Natarajan went for 54 runs in four overs. Ngidi, who has been excellent this season, leaked 32 in three without a wicket. Kuldeep Yadav was tighter but still could not manufacture a breakthrough. Axar’s one wicket, Gaikwad’s in the seventh, was about as good as things got for Delhi.
They will sit in their dressing room right now and remind themselves that the dew is coming. KL Rahul is in the best form of his season. That Sameer Rizvi has won two matches almost single-handedly this tournament. That 200 is chaseable at this ground under the lights.
All of that is true. None of it changes the fact that CSK just made a very large score and their best batter is standing in the middle of the pitch feeling like himself for the first time since he put on yellow.
How The Scorecard Reads
CSK First Innings: 200-plus for 2 wickets in 20 overs
Sanju Samson: 115 not out, 57 balls, 15 fours, 3 sixes Ayush Mhatre: 59, 36 balls, retired out Ruturaj Gaikwad: 15, caught Nissanka bowled Axar Patel
DC Bowlers: T Natarajan: 4 overs, 54 runs, 0 wickets. Lungi Ngidi: 3 overs, 32 runs, 0 wickets. Kuldeep Yadav: 2 overs, 24 runs, 0 wickets. Axar Patel: 1 wicket. Auqib Nabi Dar: 2 overs, 17 runs, 0 wickets
The Night Is Only Half Done
Delhi need to chase this down. That is still very much possible. They have batters who can hit. The conditions will favour them somewhat as the dew sets in. Cricket does not give you the first innings trophy and call it a match.
But for now, at the halfway point, Chepauk feels like a completely different place from what it was three hours ago. The crowd is loud, the team looks like itself again, and somewhere in that dugout, MS Dhoni is probably watching Sanju Samson and nodding quietly to himself.
That should worry Delhi a little.
Second innings underway shortly. Delhi need 200-plus. CSK need 10 wickets. The real drama is just getting started.
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- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
- Prakash Nair
