In defence of a 200-plus total on a batter friendly surface and amid heavy dew, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) kept delaying their weak link in bowling till as long as they could — until the 19th over.
With captain Ravindra Jadeja patrolling the deep boundaries at Brabourne Stadium, MS Dhoni had become the de facto leader. But ultimately when Shivam Dube was brought on bowl the 19th over, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) cut loose. The well-set Evin Lewis 55* (23) cracked two fours and a six, young Ayush Badoni 19* (9) hit an audacious six over square-leg on one knee, and the 25-run over turned the tide. The new cap Mukesh Choudhary only had 9 runs to play with in the final over but LSG took only two balls to chase down the 211-run target to register a 4-wicket win, their first ever win.
LSG having raced away to 98/0 in the first 10, it was South African pacer Dwaine Pretorius (2-31) who kept CSK in the hunt in the middle overs.
When CSK batted, the sound of thwack off Robin Uthappa’s blade which reverberated across the stadium in the opening overs gave early signs of how true the playing surface was. Uthappa continued to smash LSG pacers to all corners even as they were happy to telegram their intentions to bowl the heavy ball. Every time they dug the ball in, Uthappa was happy to use the depth and breadth of the crease. He slammed eight fours and a six when the field was in. After Ruturaj Gaikwad fell early, Moeen Ali, playing his first game of the season, proved to be the perfect match-up for Krunal Pandya, who was surprisingly preferred over Ravi Bishnoi by KL Rahul to bowl the last over of the powerplay. Ali took Pandya down for 16 runs and CSK were cruising at 73/1.
{{/usCountry}}When CSK batted, the sound of thwack off Robin Uthappa’s blade which reverberated across the stadium in the opening overs gave early signs of how true the playing surface was. Uthappa continued to smash LSG pacers to all corners even as they were happy to telegram their intentions to bowl the heavy ball. Every time they dug the ball in, Uthappa was happy to use the depth and breadth of the crease. He slammed eight fours and a six when the field was in. After Ruturaj Gaikwad fell early, Moeen Ali, playing his first game of the season, proved to be the perfect match-up for Krunal Pandya, who was surprisingly preferred over Ravi Bishnoi by KL Rahul to bowl the last over of the powerplay. Ali took Pandya down for 16 runs and CSK were cruising at 73/1.
{{/usCountry}}Bishnoi came in to bowl his first in the 8th over and promptly trapped Uthappa with a rapid googly but after the experienced batter had completed a 25-ball 50. He put the brakes on the CSK scoring rate with a 3-over spell. From 82/1 after 7, CSK could only push to 118/3 after 12, Avesh Khan sending Ali 35 (22) back in that period.
Bishnoi was the only bowler on the night who kept teasing batters on a flat surface, which offered nothing other than bounce to the spinner. Bowling wide lines to left-handers and rapid wrong-uns to right-handers, Bishnoi’s 4-24-2 stood out with rest of the LSG bowlers being expensive. The large contingent of CSK supporters had a ball towards the end of the innings when their heartbeat MS Dhoni connected 4 of the 6 balls he faced in the final two overs to finish with a 6-ball16.