(ESPNCricinfo) – SANDEEP Lamichhane was born the year Amit Mishra made his first-class debut. Eighteen years on, the two leg-spinners with immeasurable skills and sky-high confidence levels were at the forefront of a superb Delhi Daredevils win that may have not yet assured Chennai Super Kings of a top-two finish.

The pair finished with 3 for 41 off eight overs to tie CSK down after Ambati Rayudu’s 29-ball 50 put them ahead at the halfway mark.

The chase boiled down to MS Dhoni, with CSK needing 58 off 24. On a sluggish surface, this proved a little too steep.

Earlier in the evening, Harshal Patel clubbed four sixes and took apart Dwayne Bravo for 26 in the final over that gave Delhi Daredevils 162. This proved to be the turning point.

Prithvi Shaw isn’t a biffer, but can take the attack to the bowlers by trusting his instincts and hitting through the line. On a Feroz Shah Kotla deck with more bounce than usual, he was denied this luxury early on by Deepak Chahar and Lungi Ndigi. So, he became a little adventurous, and the move backfired.

Shaw’s innings included a leading edge on the bounce to third man, two miscued slog sweeps that just eluded the backtracking midwicket fielder and a reprieve at mid-on by Shardul Thakur – all in Ravindra Jadeja’s first over, the fourth of the innings.

But Chahar triumphed eventually when he had Shaw toe-ending a cross-batted heave to Shardul Thakur at long-on. Daredevils: 24 for 1 in the fifth over.

NGIDI GETS PANT, AGAIN
Twice this season, Rishabh Pant has sold the dummy to his captain. Here, he was nearly undone by Shreyas Iyer, but for Chahar’s underarm throw from mid-on missing the stumps at the bowler’s end in the fifth over. All this played out even as Iyer struggled for timing: his control percentage against three of the five bowlers he faced was less than 66.

Vijay Shankar and Harshal Patel at No.5 and No. 7 respectively may have been a tad too high. However, they chose to disprove that notion with a stunning late assault that yielded 65 off just 32 balls.

The destroyer was Harshal – no more than a pinch-hitter in domestic cricket – who used the depth of the crease superbly to muscle four sixes, three peppering the sightscreen.

Dwayne Bravo got his execution wrong, the dipping slower deliveries gave way to full tosses and the last over was taken for 26. He finished 36 not out off 16 deliveries with Bravo’s figures reading a dismal 4-0-52-0 as Daredevils finished with 162.

Shane Watson struggled for timing and ploughed his way to 13 off 20 as CSK crawled to 22 without loss in five overs. Rayudu then got stuck into Avesh Khan, pulling him for three sixes and a flat-batted slap for four off the sixth to break the shackles.

Then there was a bit of drama. Mishra first had Watson miscuing to long-off and then bamboozled Suresh Raina with a googly that took the edge, only for Pant to fluff the chance first ball.

This proved to be the trigger for Rayudu to continue his sustained attack to bring up a 28-ball half-century. But he would fall next ball to a hoick well held by Glenn Maxwell to leave CSK at 70 for 2 in 10 overs.