CSK vs LSG IPL 2023 Highlights: Chennai mark return to Chepauk with a win, beat Lucknow by 12 runs

The MA Chidambaram Stadium has been the home of cricket in Tamil Nadu and the Madras Presidency in the pre-Independence era as well. One of the iconic venues of world cricket, the stadium has surprisingly hosted just two T20Is. The first was against New Zealand in 2012, which the Kiwis won by just a run. Then India faced the West Indies in November 2018 and they won this by six wickets. It is pretty meaningless to look at individual stats from such a short set but in ODIs, it is 'Thala' Dhoni who is the highest scorer with 401 runs in six matches. In Tests, the legendary Sunil Gavaskar is the highest scorer with 1018 runs in 21 innings. Sachin Tendulkar comes a close second with 970 runs in 16 innings.

About 20 mins to go for all the blabbering to stop and the cricket to begin. A lot of first in this week for LSG. They just played in their home city for the first time, now they are set to face one of the storied teams in the history of the league at their home for the first time. 

The Test and T20 formats have not been kind to KL Rahul off late. He fell after scoring a rather drab 8 off 12 balls in LSG's first match. However, he has a good record against Deepak Chahar, CSK's strike bowler. Rahul has smashed 120 in the 79 balls faced against Chahar without being dismissed. Rahul also averages 60.17 against CSK since 2019, with four half-centuries in seven innings.

It was only on Sunday evening that De Kock and South Africa beat the Netherlands by 146 runs and so it is highly unlikely that he will play today. But hey, LSG won't complain. In fact, if anything, it helps them do away with a selection headache now as there is absolutely no way they can drop Kyle Mayers, or even think about using him anywhere else but as an opener really, considering what he did in their first match. 

Mark Wood played one season (well, one match) for CSK in 2018. In the only game he played, he took no wickets and conceded 49 runs. He started off pretty well in the match, giving just three runs in his first over and making Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav duck and weave in it. However, Krunal and Hardik Pandya, the former in particular, smashed him to all parts of the ground in his later overs and he ended being the most expensive bowler for his side. Wood did not play again and returned to England halfway through the season when it became clear to him that he is not going to play a further role in the season. He didn't have a place in the CSK squad, now he is back as their biggest threat. Full circle and all that. 

“Last time I played for CSK, but it didn't go quite well. But I wanted to make an impact in this game. The landing area was a bit of an issue, but I am pleased with my rhythm as I managed to take wickets.”

LSG's 178/7 on a tricky pitch in Lucknow was a daunting total in their first match of the season against Delhi Capitals but the away side were doing pretty well early on in the chase. David Warner and Prithvi Shaw were going at above 10 an over and were very much on track until Mark Wood bowled his first over. He brought pace and fury and sent back to LSG batters off consecutive deliveries. The next ball he sent in was a no ball and Sarfaraz Khan had nicked the free hit delivery to the keeper which means that if this was a Test match, Wood had completed his hat-trick. He eventually got his third; and fourth; and fifth! Thus completing his LSG debut with figures of 5/14. CSK have a real task at hand facing him today. 

"I think India team selection doesn't come into my mind at this moment because we have 15 games left at the moment. I am really thinking about how I can contribute to CSK winning each and every game and getting close to qualification, getting closer to a title. It's better to stay in the present and contribute to the team."

“It’s a luxury to have (Impact Player). It becomes slightly easy to take the decision because you can use it at any time,” Dhoni had said. But the World Cup-winning captain feels the rule will reduce the role of an all-rounder in the team. “Influence of all-rounder has become slightly less because of the rule,”

Since 2019, Dhoni is yet to be dismissed when he has come out to bat at this venue. He scored 193 runs in 4 innings at a strike rate of 161 at the venue in 2019. His strike rate of 161 in 2019 at Chepauk was the best for him in all his IPL seasons at the venue. He is the only batsman to have smashed more than 50 IPL sixes at the venue (64). Dhoni has scored 1363 runs at the Chepauk, which is the most for him at a single venue while playing in the IPL.

KL Rahul(c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran(w), Ayush Badoni, Mark Wood, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Prerak Mankad, Swapnil Singh, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Daniel Sams, Romario Shepherd, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Karan Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Amit Mishra, Manan Vohra

Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Shivam Dube, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, RS Hangargekar, Tushar Deshpande, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Ajinkya Rahane, Nishant Sindhu, Dwaine Pretorius, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Akash Singh, Bhagath Varma

CSK have won 40, lost 15 and tied 1 (lost in super over) of the 56 games they have played at the venue. This is the third highest in terms of wins by an IPL franchise at home after KKR who have won 45 out of the 71 games they have played at the Eden Gardens and MI who have won 41 out of the 68 they have played at the Wankhede Stadium.

Williamson injured his knee while pulling off a truly extraordinary fielding effort yesterday at the boundary line for Gujarat Titans against Chennai Super Kings to stop a six. He had to be helped off the field and is reportedly ruled out of the IPL. While that in itself is sad, let us hope that he recovers well over the course of this tournament and this does not become the start of another injury saga for the former New Zealand captain. Williamson had recently gone on a century-scoring spree, even leading the Kiwis to a thrilling last ball win against Sri Lanka with an unbeaten ton which confirmed a WTC final spot for India. It is in Test cricket that players like Williamson become a true joy to watch and let's hope that this knee issue doesn't hinder his flow of runs any more.

The last match CSK played at the Chepauk Stadium was a First Qualifier in the 2019 season against Mumbai Indians. They lost that match by six wickets, largely due to a blinder of an innings played by Suryakumar Yadav. He smashed an unbeaten 71 off 54 balls. They would face MI again in the final and would lose that match as well, albeit by just one run despite opener Shane Watson smashing 80 off 59 balls chasing 150.

Gaikwad had a real off season last year, especially compared to what he did the season before that. But he has got off to a bang this year allright. He scored 92 off 50 balls in the first match of the season against Gujarat Titans, hitting nine sixes and four fours. It was the kind of innings that made people think just how is it that he has not become one of the frontrunners for the opening spot in the Indian team. 

Two factors contributed to Kyle Mayers scoring 73 off 38 balls in his debut for LSG. The first, of course, was his sheer power and audacity, hitting them if they are in his range regardless of where the fielder is. The other, was the fact that Delhi Capitals were going having a serious butter-finger crisis while he was struggling to get going. He was saved by what surely will go down as the drop of the season by Khaleel Ahmed while he was 14 off 16 at the time and after that, he painted the town red. CSK were tight in the field in their last match despite losing it and so chances of Mayers getting a let off like that doesn't seem high. And yet, CSK will know how important it is to get him out.

CSK went down to a clinical Gujarat Titans in their first match of the season. Apart from Ruturaj Gaikwad, none of their other batters really got a significant but it is after the 15th over of their innings that things really started going awry for them. Gaikwad lost his breakneck meomentum with a couple of silent overs while batting partner Shivam Mavi never got going. It was captain Dhoni who pushed them close to 180 with a couple of big hits but GT were just clinical in their chase. Shubman Gill led the early assault with a half century and Rashid Khan and Rahul Tewatia then did the perfect finishing act.  

Mark Wood was in hot form in LSG's opener vs DC and bagged five wickets. Speaking after the match, he said, "Last time I played for CSK, but it didn't go quite well. But I wanted to make an impact in this game. The landing area was a bit of an issue, but I am pleased with my rhythm as I managed to take wickets."

Gaikwad was in good form during the season opener but prevent a defeat for CSK. The opener smacked an unbeaten knock of 92 runs off 50 balls. 

After the match, he said, "I think India team selection doesn't come into my mind at this moment because we have 15 games left at the moment. I am really thinking about how I can contribute to CSK winning each and every game and getting close to qualification, getting closer to a title. It's better to stay in the present and contribute to the team."

CSK: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Shivam Dube, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, RS Hangargekar, Tushar Deshpande, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Ajinkya Rahane, Nishant Sindhu, Dwaine Pretorius, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Prashant Solanki, Simarjeet Singh, Akash Singh, Bhagath Varma

LSG: KL Rahul(c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran(w), Ayush Badoni, Mark Wood, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Prerak Mankad, Swapnil Singh, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Daniel Sams, Romario Shepherd, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Karan Sharma, Mayank Yadav, Amit Mishra, Manan Vohra

Hello and good afternoon everyone! Welcome to our live coverage of today's IPL 2023 match between CSK and LSG. Stay tuned folks!