Finance
The grand homecoming of M.S. Dhoni and Co to Chepauk after 1427 was a day that Chennai Super Kings fans eagerly awaited in IPL 2023. CSK did not disappoint in front of a packed home crowd dressed in yellow, winning by 12 runs in a run-fest against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday night.
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway put on a blistering 110-run opening stand, while Ambati Rayudu, captain M.S. Dhoni, Moeen Ali, and Shivam Dube propelled CSK to 217/7.
Kyle Mayers had threatened to steal their thunder with a 22-ball 53 in response.
Lucknow reached 73/0 in five overs thanks to his efforts. However, Moeen and Santner struck as LSG fell to 82/3 in the eighth over. Moeen, who picked 4-26, and Santner, who returned with 1-21, kept things tight to bring Chennai back into the game.
Nicholas Pooran threatened to drive Lucknow to a late victory, but Tushar Deshpande took him out as the visitors finished at 205/7, with Chennai picking up two crucial points in a high-scoring, entertaining game.
Both Gaikwad (57) and Conway (47) hit some outstanding shots to help CSK score 79 runs in the Power-play, the highest-ever score in this phase at Chepauk. Conway got off to a flying start in the second over, slamming Avesh Khan for back-to-back boundaries.
Gaikwad took command with a superb square drive off Mayers before pulling Krunal Pandya over mid-on for a pair of boundaries. He then greeted K Gowtham with two straight sixes down the ground, followed by a lovely lofted inside-out six over extra cover.
Conway ripped into Mark Wood with an uppish drive and pull for a pair of boundaries, while Gaikwad gently flicked over deep backward square leg for six to take his tally to fifty in 25 balls. Conway smashed two elegant sixes over long-on off Krunal to bring up the opening partnership’s century in eight overs.
Lucknow made a breakthrough in the tenth over when Gaikwad attempted a drive off Ravi Bishnoi, but the leading edge flew to short third man. Conway attempted another pull off Wood in the next over but was caught by a diving deep backward square leg.
After that, Dube boosted Chennai’s innings with three massive sixes, including a 102-metre maximum, and one four. However, when attempting to get a big shot off Bishnoi, he gave a top edge to the short third man.
Moeen gave Chennai’s innings a boost with a hat-trick of fours through the off-side against Avesh before being stumped by Bishnoi. Despite the fact that Ben Stokes and Ravindra Jadeja were dismissed cheaply, Ambati Rayudu added the finishing touches by dancing down the pitch and hitting a brace of sixes off Wood while sweeping off Bishnoi and slicing over leaping short third man to get two boundaries.
MS Dhoni slammed back-to-back sixes off Wood in the final over, a big slash over wide third man followed by a huge hook into the upper tier at deep square leg fence. Despite the fact that Dhoni sliced to the third man and left for 12, the crowd was treated to a brief but sharp cameo from their beloved leader which was worth their money.
Mayers responded by welcoming Stokes with consecutive fours through the off-side, followed by a clean 86m six over long-off. Mayers made strokeplay look ridiculously easy in the next over, punching, pulling, and driving against Deepak Chahar.
Tushar Deshpande was then put under the pump by Mayers, lofting over mid-off and muscling over long-on for four and six respectively as Lucknow reached fifty. Mayers and Rahul took 17 runs off Chahar’s fifth over, allowing the former to reach his fifty in 21 balls for the second time in as many matches.
Moeen, on the other hand, provided the breakthrough when Mayers slog-swept straight to deep midwicket. Deepak Hooda couldn’t time his slog-sweep in the next over and holed out to long-on. Rahul went for slog-sweep too and picked out deep mid-wicket.
Pandya and Marcus Stoinis attempted to resurrect the chase, but the former miscued the slog to long-on off Moeen, while the latter was rattled by the off-spinner. Pooran stayed in the hunt with a six and two fours off Rajvardhan Hangargekar.
He then flat-batted a six over extra cover off Ravindra Jadeja, followed by a reverse-sweeping six over the point. Pooran’s blitz came to an end when his lofted drive against Deshpande was caught by long-off. The pacer would dismiss Ayush Badoni in the final over despite giving away 15 runs, but the match was already in Chennai’s favor.
Brief scores:
Chennai Super Kings 217/7 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 57, Devon Conway 47; Ravi Bishnoi 3-28, Mark Wood 3-49) beat Lucknow Super Giants 205/7 in 20 overs (Kyle Mayers 53, Nicholas Pooran 32; Moeen Ali 4-26, Tushar Deshpande 2-45) by 12 runs
Source:OCN
