Watch cricket video highlights between Lucknow Super Giants vs Chennai Super Kings. Indian Premier League 2024 thirty fourth match, played at Lucknow.
On Friday night, the fans at Lucknow’s Ekana Stadium were treated to the ultimate buffet: amazing fireworks from MS Dhoni propelled the Chennai Super Kings to a close 176 for 6, with the host club, Lucknow Super Giants, answering with a sophisticated 82 off 53 led by skipper KL Rahul. Rahul and Quinton de Kock’s commanding century opening partnership, their first of the season, set the stage for LSG’s chase by preventing any CSK bowler from getting comfortable.
In order to score 54 during the powerplay, they consistently gathered boundaries, they prevented CSK from fighting back in the middle overs (something they have done frequently in this IPL), they kept the asking rate below ten, and by the time de Kock was out for 54 in the fifteenth over, they only needed a comfortable 43 from thirty balls. Even though Rahul was dismissed before the end due to an incredible catch made by Ravindra Jadeja at backward point, LSG still easily defeated them with an over remaining and eight wickets in hand.
This season, the LSG hitters have come under fire for failing to score runs soon enough to start, losing wickets, or giving Nicholas Pooran too much work to do. None of those things happened on Friday, as Rahul and de Kock set the tone for the chase with a century partnership in only 10.5 overs. Rahul led the pair with elegantly styled strokes. He played the pick-up shots like he always does, drove boldly down the ground, middled his pulls against the short balls, and even exploited Matheesha Pathirana’s speed to upper cut him for six.
While Rahul frequently executes similar strokes in Twenty20 cricket, the consistency with which he did so that evening was unusual. In the following over, he drilled Mustafizur Rahman back after making 12 off Deepak Chahar’s second over, the third of the innings, which featured a six over midwicket. It became clear that LSG was in a strong position to win easily when de Kock and Rahul combined for 6, 4, and 6 in the fifth and sixth overs, taking them to 54 in the powerplay.
When de Kock misplayed Jadeja in the ninth over, LSG was further aided, but Pathirana wasted the opportunity at short third. In the following over bowled by Jadeja, De Kock punished CSK with a leg-side boundary before Rahul caused more havoc with back-to-back fours that brought him beyond fifty. The two eased down for a little while before de Kock reached his fifty as well, with 74 to go from 54. Dhoni caught him trying to ramp a slower ball from Mustafizur Rahman, and he fell for 54. However, Pooran entered the game intending to hit boundaries, and with six balls remaining, he clinched the chase with his third four.
CSK has a history of surprising people; the most recent example was when they sent Jadeja out at number four. They lost Rachin Ravindra for a golden duck shortly after they were put in, and three overs later, Ruturaj Gaikwad edged an outswinger from Yash Thakur behind. Perhaps after dropping two wickets in the powerplay, CSK decided to send out Jadeja and save Shivam Dube for later. Dube was instrumental in helping CSK reach a total that was competitive. Ajinkya Rahane, on the other hand, demonstrated his impeccable timing to propel CSK forward with a steady flow of boundaries. The best of those was a six from Matt Henry over midwicket and a gorgeous four-ball drive from Thakur.
As soon as the field stretched out, Rahul used spin at both ends, and it paid off when Krunal Pandya struck Rahane’s leg stump, sending him back for 36 off 24. Dube left the field at number five, but Jadeja connected with the spin of Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal to gather boundaries in back-to-back overs. But Jadeja did not spend much time with CSK’s star players. First, Dube mishandled a short ball delivered at 125.4 kph by Marcus Stoinis, which Rahul caught.
Next, Sameer Rizvi danced down the field to Krunal, but he was unable to get near to the ball and was stumped. In 13 overs, CSK was suddenly 93 for 5. Moeen Ali and Jadeja were put down by the LSG bowlers, who went 34 balls without a boundary. Breaking the run of wickets, Jadeja achieved his fifty in the seventeenth over, when he was hit by Mohsin Khan for a six that Deepak Hooda could have grabbed but only managed to tip over.
In the eighteenth over, Moeen set Dhoni up with three consecutive sixes off Bishnoi. When Moeen failed to get a fourth six off the same bowler, Dhoni was met with thunderous applause. Following a single off his opening delivery, Dhoni had to face Mohsin and Thakur, two rookie bowlers. After hitting Mohsin hard to the extra-cover boundary for a one-bounce four, he proceeded to go across the wicket since Mohsin had been throwing them wide outside off and lapping him over the keeper’s head.
This was the least Dhoniesque six you’ll see. There were three wides in the 14-run over. The crowd were having a blast; they were nearly all yellow. In the final over, Dhoni struck for a six over cow corner after receiving the strike. With Dhoni finishing with 28 off just nine balls and Thakur attempting wide yorkers that resulted in two more fours off the final three deliveries, CSK managed to smash 63 in the final four overs. Though not quite enough, it was enjoyable.
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