No doubt the boundaries at the Cricket Club of India’s Brabourne Stadium were small. No doubt the conditions were tilted towards batters, with the dew making the ball as wet as it can be in a bucketful of water. Still, a team had to bat out of its skin to surpass a target of 211, that too versus the defending champion.
Lucknow Super Giants did just that on Thursday night.
Setting the platform
The protagonists of the chase were left-handed Quinton de Kock and Evin Lewis. De Kock made the most of a dropped catch by Moeen Ali at mid-off off Dwayne Bravo in the PowerPlay to set the foundation with a well-complied 61 (45b, 9x4). Lewis then capitalised on it with an unbeaten fifty (55 n.o., 23b, 6x4, 3x6).
Captain K.L. Rahul, who shared a 99-run partnership at the top with de Kock, played the perfect supporting role along with Deepak Hooda and Ayush Badoni, with the pocket dynamo’s two sixes helping the Super Giants cross the line with three balls to spare.
With 34 required in two overs, Badoni and Lewis went after Shivam Dube, bowling the 19th over. Badoni’s paddled-six started the onslaught and Lewis took over as the over produced 25 runs to virtually seal the fate of the match.
Earlier in the evening, the Super Kings batting came good. Barring Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was run out by Ravi Bishnoi’s direct hit, every Super Kings batter hammered a hapless Super Giants attack as the team tallied 210 for seven.
Robin Uthappa, opening the innings in Devon Conway’s absence, revelled in the position that he most enjoys batting at. The first two balls of the innings saw Uthappa flicking and cutting Avesh Khan to the fence. It set the tone for the rest o the innings as Uthappa raced to a 25-ball fifty before being undone by Ravi Bishnoi’s quick googly. The left-handed duo of Moeen and Shivam Dube continued to find the gaps and clear the fence literally at will.
M.S. Dhoni, whose first-ball six over covers off Avesh in the penultimate over was one of the highlights of the evening, finished the innings on a high with a cut that sailed over short third-man.
Scoreboard
Chennai Super Kings Innings: Robin Uthappa lbw b Ravi Bishnoi 50 Ruturaj Gaikwad run out (Ravi Bishnoi) 1 Moeen Ali b Avesh Khan 35 Shivam Dube c Lewis b Avesh Khan 49 Ambati Rayudu b Ravi Bishnoi 27 Ravindra Jadeja c Manish Pandey b Andrew Tye 17 MS Dhoni not out 16 Dwaine Pretorius lbw b Andrew Tye 0 Dwayne Bravo not out 1
Extras: (B-4, LB-7, W-3) 14
Total: (For 7 wickets in 20 Overs) 210
Fall of wickets: 1-28, 2-84, 3-106, 4-166, 5-189, 6-203, 7-203.
Lucknow Super Giants bowling: Avesh Khan 4-0-38-2, Dushmantha Chameera 4-0-49-0, Andrew Tye 4-0-41-2, Krunal Pandya 3-0-35-0, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-24-2, Deepak Hooda 1-0-12-0.
Lucknow Super Giants Innings: KL Rahul c Rayudu b Pretorius 40 Quinton de Kock c Dhoni b Pretorius 61 Manish Pandey c DJ Bravo b Tushar Deshpande 5 Evin Lewis not out 55 Deepak Hooda c Ravindra Jadeja b DJ Bravo 13 Ayush Badoni not out 19
Extras: (LB-6, W-12) 18
Total: (For 4 wickets in 19.3 Overs) 211
Fall of wickets: 1-99, 2-106 , 3-139 , 4-171.
Chennai Super Kings Bowling: Mukesh Choudhary 3.3-0-39-0, Tushar Deshpande 4-0-40-1, Dwayne Bravo 4-0-35-1,Ravindra Jadeja 2-0-21-0, Moeen Ali 1-0-14-0, Dwaine Pretorius 4-0-31-2, Shivam Dube 1-0-25-0).
