Lucknow Super Giants registered an easy eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the 34th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 at Ekana Cricket Stadium on Friday. Skipper KL Rahul recorded a brilliant 82 as LSG chased down a 177-run target with six balls remaining.
Coming into this game with two back-to-back defeats, Lucknow proved superior in every department to register their fourth win of the season. New Zealand pacer Matt Henry made his debut for Lucknow after replacing Shamar Joseph while Chennai recalled Moeen Ali and Deepak Chahar.
Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten fifty and a quickfire cameo from MS Dhoni were only positives for the defending champions who remain in third place despite a big loss. Lucknow remain in the fifth spot with eight points in seven games to keep themselves in a good position to secure playoff qualification.
Chennai struggled for a start with Rachin Ravindra continuing to disappoint with a golden duck. Ajinkya Rahane kept the runs flowing by scoring 36 runs off 24 balls but Lucknow enjoyed momentum with timely wickets of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube.
Jadeja, batting at no.4, played a brilliant innings of 57* off 40 balls but it was MS Dhoni's late heroics that helped Chennai post a big total. Dhoni smashed 28* off just 9 balls to entertain the crowd at Ekana Cricket Stadium. Krunal Pandya took two wickets for 16 but Ravi Bishnoi and Yash Thakur proved costly for Lucknow.
Chasing a tough target, openers KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock added match-defining 134 runs for the first wicket to put Lucknow in a comfortable position to win the game. Quinton de Kock scored 54 off 43 balls before losing his wicket to Mustafizur Rahman in the 15th over but Rahul and Nicholas Pooran denied CSK a late comeback.
Rahul top-scored with 82 runs off 53 balls with the help of nine fours and three sixes but was not able to finish the game. Pooran smashed 23* off 12 balls and finished the chase with a four off Tyshar Deshpande in the 19th over.
Chennai Super Kings Playing XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana.
Lucknow Super Giants Playing XI: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul (c & wk), Deepak Hooda, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Matt Henry, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Yash Thakur.
