LSG vs CSK, IPL 2023 Highlights: Match called off due to rain; Lucknow, Chennai share a point each

And that is the end of Manan Vohra. There was a bg appeal for LBW that was turned down previous ball but there is no need to look at the umpire here. Vohra moves across as Theekshana stays on the stumps, the ball rushes at the batter and takes the leg stump.

Manan Vohra went past 3000 T20 runs with a four off the fourth ball of that over bowled by Deepak Chahar. Maheesh Theekshana is bowling the last over of the powerplay which has thus far yielded just 25 runs for LSG. But then again, this might be a good return considering the kind of pitches that are being dished out here.

That is the second time Moeen has dismissed Mayers this season. Full ball outside off from him, Mayers tries to go big down the ground, can't clear long-off and Gaikwad makes no mistake with that.

Mayers c Gaikwad b Ali 14 (17), LSG 18/1 in 3.4 overs

Mayers crashes the fourth ball of the third with a straightish cover drive. It is in the air but well out of reach of the diving mid-off fielder.

A very good first over from Chahar, spoilt by Mayers off the last ball. It was short and angling across, Mayers cuts it for four.

Rajeev Shukla, the UPCA Director, has presented Dhoni with a trophy after the toss. Wonder if all this will be done for him again if he returns next year and if that is so, then by extension, how many of these trophies are the UPCA going to make for him.

“I would've liked to bat. I don't know how the wicket will play, despite it being our home ground. KL is a big loss but it creates opportunity for other players. The morale is high. We want to play a good time. Manan Vohra and Karan Sharma come in.”

"The wicket was under cover for a long time, and it looks a bit tacky. We have to see every condition. When you are playing a day game, things change. Deepak Chahar is playing and he comes in place of Akash Singh."

Danny Morrison tells him something about the "farewell tour" at the stadium that is looking resplendent in yellow, at which Dhoni ssays "it is you who decided that it is my farewell". Morrison proceeds to announce to the crowd that Dhoni will return next year as well. The mystery continues.

He had led on the field when KL Rahul hobbled off in the last match and it seems he will be leading LSG for the remainder of the season as well. Pandya is out there with MS Dhoni for the toss.

"Great experience for me coming from Afghanistan and being a fast bowler. Playing franchise cricket and helped me come here and do well for the team. Always helps when you come to a stadium and don't feel like a stranger. You know what red soil does, and what black soil does. Black soil gives you more help with the cutters, red soil gives you more bounce. (What LSG need to do better) Hopefully, if we are chasing we can score the runs today..."

And the toss will be at 3.30pm and the match begins at 3.45pm. The sun is out and so it looks like there will be no more changes for now. 

“Only 61 meters on one side, the other side is 75 meters. Downtown is 78 meters. The pitch is very patchy, there is quite a lot of green grass on it compared to what we've seen in the past. But is very dry underneath. Some plate cracking there. Don't expect this wicket to play with much bounce in it. Won't be a lot of bounce. Will still favour the spin,” say Aaron Finch and Danny Morrison

Rain drops are falling now and so the toss is delayed. Hopefully this is not the beginning of a long sequence of inspections and further delays. 

There have been some intermittent rain in Lucknow, as recently as 2.30 there were showers around the area where the stadium is situated. The covers are on, it's all dry at the moment and there is no update as to whether toss has been delayed or no.

"He doesn't always look that good on the eye and other times he looks exquisite. He is just a player who gets the job done. He's found a good method. Spin, there was a little bit of a question mark. There always is when an overseas player comes to the subcontinent for the first time. But I think he's got a game that actually plays very well against spin. He has a good strike rate and he can access the boundary and over the boundary. So we are really happy with Devon's contributions."

Among those with a minimum of 500 runs in the IPL, Devon Conway has the best average (51.23). He has struck 666 runs in 16 matches, with eight half-centuries. Five of those fifties have come in his last six appearances.

“KL Rahul has been ruled out of our game against @chennaiipl today following his injury in the game against RCB. The franchise is offering him the best possible care and support at this time, to ensure he recovers as quickly as possible. We will provide further updates in due course on when he can return to the field.”

... and Virat Kohli of course, but he is not playing today is he. Naveen-ul-Haq gave LSG hope as they completely botched up a chase of 127 and in that process, he became the centre of Kohli's efforts to show Gambhir who is boss. Clearly the RCB captain did not like the fact that Gambhir had shushed the Bengaluru crowd in the reverse fixture earlier this season and so at Lucknow, Kohli was gesturing the home fans that he would not ask them to shut up since he loves them so much. No one would want to rub Kohli the wrong way when he is that kind of mood and it seems Naveen did exactly that. This led to Naveen facing off with Kohli after the match and then Gambhir himself facing off with Kohli, thus giving everyone a bit of a blast from the past. For the uninitiated, these two had brought their faces aggressively close to each other in the 2015 IPL when Gambhir was captain of KKR. 

Wherever CSK have played this season, it was all yellow. MS Dhoni himself has acknowledged that fans around the country seem to be giving him a farewell, although Stephen Fleming later said that the CSK captain has never indicated that he is retiring after this season. Regardless, we are definitely going to see a lot of yellow shirts, especially considering Lucknow has had previous few chances of actually seeing Dhoni play in the flesh. 

Well PTI has reported that the LSG captain and fast bowler are out of the tournament, which means that Krunal Pandya will be captaining them this season. "KL is currently with the team in Lucknow but he is leaving the camp on Thursday after watching the game against CSK on Wednesday. His scans will be done in Mumbai at the BCCI-designated medical facility. His case as well as Jaydev's case will be handled by BCCI," a senior BCCI source privy to development told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

KL Rahul's injury means that he will most probably not play today. This means that Quinton de Kock, who lost his place to Kyle Mayers, finally gets into the team. 

Kyle Mayers has taken on spinners with confidence, striking at 175 against them this season, which is the second highest for batters who have at least 75 runs. But Moeen Ali has dismissed him twice in three meetings in T20s.

Ben Stokes recently posted a photo of himself training in the heat and humidity of Chennai on Instagram. He has played just two matches this season, scoring seven and eight runs and bowling one over, in which he conceded 18 runs. So far, it is safe to say that his stay with the four-time champions has been yielded less than satisfactory results to say the least from his end at least.

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