Lucknow Super Giants captain KL Rahul batted like a dream on Friday at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow as the hosts beat Chennai Super Kings by eight wickets to keep the pressure on the current top four in IPL 2024. Rahul notched up his second fifty this season, en route to a 53-ball 82, while stitching a 134-run stand alongside fellow opener Quinton de Kock as Lucknow wrapped up the chase with an over to spare.
On a two-paced wicket, Chennai batters seemingly struggled before another explosive cameo from MS Dhoni, who clobbered 28 runs off just 9 balls, pushed the total to 176 for six. In response, LSG lost no sweat as Rahul and De Kock chased down more than half the total with ease amid the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Mustafizur Rahman and Matheesha Pathirana struggling to find a rhythm on the track. CSK did get rid of both the openers successively before Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis closed out the chase in the penultimate over.
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IPL 2024 Orange Cap standings: KL Rahul closes in on Rohit Sharma's position
Following his second half-century knock in the ongoing IPL 2024 season, where he scored 82 off 53, Rahul took his tally to 281 runs in this tournament from seven matches. En route to the knock, he passed Shubman Gill (263 runs) at No. 7, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson (276) at No. 6 and Kolkata Knight Riders opener Sunil Narine (276) at No. 5 to take the fourth spot. He now stands 16 runs behind third-placed Rohit Sharma (297) with Virat Kohli (361) still leading the chart, followed by Riyan Parag (316).
{{/usCountry}}Following his second half-century knock in the ongoing IPL 2024 season, where he scored 82 off 53, Rahul took his tally to 281 runs in this tournament from seven matches. En route to the knock, he passed Shubman Gill (263 runs) at No. 7, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson (276) at No. 6 and Kolkata Knight Riders opener Sunil Narine (276) at No. 5 to take the fourth spot. He now stands 16 runs behind third-placed Rohit Sharma (297) with Virat Kohli (361) still leading the chart, followed by Riyan Parag (316).
{{/usCountry}}Earlier in the match, Shivam Dube, despite his rare blip in CSK colours, made it back into the top 10 after scoring just 3 off 8. His run tally stands at 245 from seven matches.
Despite the win, LSG remain in the fifth spot with four wins from seven matches, while CSK keep their third position as well, after incurring their third loss this season, all of which came away from home.