New Zealand opening batter Devon Conway and English all-rounder Moeen were the two star performers for MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in their big 91-run win over Delhi Capitals in Match Number 55 of the ongoing Indian Premier League season. After being invited to bat first at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, CSK rode on Conway’s third consecutive fifty-plus score to post a total of 208 for the loss of six wickets. And then Moeen Ali turned the tide in Chennai’s favour with three wickets in the middle overs.
One of the architects of CSK’s perfect show Moeen has showered praise on his Kiwi teammate Conway, who continued his ace form and scored his third half-century of the season. After having scores of 85 not out from 55 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad and 56 from 37 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore in his last two outings, Conway made his career-best IPL score of 87 from 49 balls against Delhi on Sunday.
He has emerged as a perfect replacement for former South African captain Faf du Plessis in the CSK set-up and has scored 231 runs in four innings played so far. The 30-year-old made his debut against KKR in the season’s opener but was dismissed for just three runs off eight balls. And after that, he was dropped from the playing eleven and only made his comeback to the team after returning from South Africa, where he went to get married in the third week of April.
And since his return, Conway has been in the lead, and Moeen has credited his purple patch to the auspicious occasion and suggested that the marriage has been working out well for the opener.
In a video shared by CSK’s official Twitter handler, the left-handed batter said, “Yeah, obviously marriage has been working for him and he has been doing well ever since. Look, he is somebody who gets a lot of runs, he is a run-getter and he and Rutu (Ruturaj Gaikwad) have started getting partnerships which we need, which we needed obviously after Faf (Du Plessis) leaving or going. It’s great going forward and he’s a brilliant player, he’s got great shots. It’s been really well and I’m really happy for him.”
With the win over the Rishabh Pant-led side in Sunday’s night game, CSK kept alive their hopes of reaching the playoffs for the 12th time in 13 seasons. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, barring the 2020 season, CSK have managed to reach the playoffs in all the remaining seasons they participated in the cash-rich league.
