CSK beat LSG by 12 on their return to Chepauk after 2019
Chennai Super Kings and their captain, Dhoni, were determined to make a statement as they took on the undefeated Lucknow Super Giants in their second match of the tournament at their home ground, MA Chidambaram stadium
It was a sea of Yellow at MA Chidambaram stadium as Chennai Super Kings made a return at their home ground after four years as they took on the undefeated Lucknow Super Giants in their second match of the tournament.
It was a crucial match for the Super Kings as they started the tournament on a bad note as the men in yellow lost their first match against the defending champions Gujrat Titans. One of the factors of the defeat was the lack of runs on the scoreboard as the team could only reach a total of 178 on a wicket where 200 was supposed to be a winning total and eventually ended up on the losing side. The match against LSG provided an opportunity for CSK to right the wrongs and come up with a solid performance at their den that Chepauk has been.
Talking about the match, LSG won the toss and elected to bowl first on a wicket that was considered to be a batting paradise and the experts predicted a par total of 190-200 runs. One of the reasons for Lucknow’s decision to bowl first was that they expected dew to play a major role in the second innings which makes chasing easy. But the only way the team batting first can negate the role of dew is by putting big runs on the board and that’s exactly what CSK did.
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The opening pair of Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gikwad gave CSK a blistering start as the duo scored 79 runs in the first six overs and continued the same till the tenth over before Ravi Bishnoi foxed Ruturaj who scored his second half-century of the season in as many games at a very good strike rate which was something Chennai missed last season as Ruturaj was not able to score big runs in 2022. But this year he has started with a bang as he scored 92 in the season opener and followed it up with a quick knock of 57 in the second match.
After the fall of Rutu’s wicket in walked Shivam Dube who was promoted in the batting order to take on the leg-spin of Bishnoi and he did just that by hitting him for back-to-back sixes before Miscuing one to get out caught after a quick fire 27 off just 16 balls.
Dhoni-led CSK posts a mammoth 217-7 against LSG at Chepauk
The CSK batters did not have to do much after such a rollicking start given by their top order and small contributions from Stokes, Moen, Raydu, and Dhoni who hit Mark Wood for two back-to-back sixes completing 5000 IPL runs in the process, propelled the total to 217-7 at the end of 20 overs.
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Chasing a target of 218, LSG got off to a flier as Mayers and Rahul added 80 runs in the powerplay before Mayers got out after scoring another Half century his second of the season in as many games. But once he got out Lucknow’s batting fell like nine pins as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Most of the batters threw their wicket away trying to play big shots which cost LSG the game they were looking set to chase the target comfortably only to struggle against Moen and Santner who picked up five wickets between them helping guide CSK to a hard-fought win.
