Delivering the fourth ball of the 14th over of the Chennai Super Kings innings, Siddharth Kaul rolled his fingers over the ball. MS Dhoni, batting on 14 from 14 balls, was through his shot too early. The ball popped off the toe end of his bat, and looped back towards the bowler. Kaul made a mess of the chance. Dhoni scrambled a single. Chennai were 95 for three.

By the time Kaul returned to the attack, Chennai had played a further 3.2 overs and moved to 131, for the loss of Ravindra Jadeja. Dhoni had moved to 33. The first three balls of Kaul's over cost just two singles. Fourth ball, slower ball. Dhoni spotted it early, and swung heftily through the line. The ball soared into the night sky and bounced off the roof of Chepauk's pavilion terrace. The first two balls of the next over, Dhoni smashed Ashish Nehra for a six and a four. A single off the next ball brought Dwayne Bravo on strike. Nehra bowled short and wide. Bravo creamed it past point for four, the force of the shot taking his feet off the ground. The last over, bowled by Umesh Yadav, went for only six, but Chennai's total was an imposing 168 for four.

Kaul's drop couldn't have come at a worse time for Delhi Daredevils. After allowing Murali Vijay and Mike Hussey to put on 61 — part-time wicketkeeper Kedar Jadhav had twice let Vijay off, dropping him on 2 and missing a run-out chance on 23 — they had pegged Chennai back, picking up both openers and Suresh Raina in the space of four tight overs, which had cost them only 16 runs. Dhoni had offered them a chance in the very next over. Following that dropped chance, Chennai had scored 73 from 38 balls.