G Rajaraman
Chennai Super Kings marked their return to their home ground, the MA Chidambaram Stadium, with a 12-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants in a high-scoring Tata Indian Premier League game on Monday night.
On a track that challenged the bowlers to remain accurate while attempting changes of pace, and set them up for punishment each time they faltered, Chennai Super Kings’ batting depth came to the party as they made 217 in 20 overs. After a 110-run opening stand between Rituraj Gaikwad and Devon Conway, they looked like losing momentum but found a second wind through Ambati Rayudu, and a final flourish from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, to post 217.
Lucknow Super Giants’ openers responded in kind, but Moeen Ali and Mitchell Santner forced errors to see CSK home. Lucknow scored one run more than Chennai’s 79 in power play but, barring Nicholas Pooran’s 32 off 18, the middle order could not sustain the chase of 10.90 runs an over.
Spin doctors derail LSG chase
Ali, the England off-spinner, and Santner, the New Zealand left-arm spinner, teamed up to scuttle LSG’s aspirations of making a match of it. Introduced in the final over of power play, Moeen’s craft with the cricket ball found full expression as he gave the batters neither the width nor the length to free their arms.
Moeen picked up a wicket in each of his overs to finish with IPL-career-best figures of four for 26, while Santner ran through his quota with clinical efficiency, challenging and frustrating the batters with questions of his own. The six overs that the spin twins from different parts of the world bowled in tandem saw four wickets and the scoring rate drop to just over 6 runs an over.
Powerhouse Mayers, and a dream start
Kyle Mayers, the West Indian powerhouse, found the gaps with ridiculous ease as he toyed with the listless CSK new-ball bowling ti rustle up his second successive half-century, making it tough for the team to even think of dropping him in favour of Quinton de Kock, now with the squad after his commitments with South Africa. However, when it was imperative that he kicked on past the power play, Mayers fell to a catch in the deep.
After his departure, the onus was on skipper KL Rahul to keep the team’s chase in shape but, like Deepak Hooda against Santner, he slogged Moeen to the fielder in the deep. Considering that the margin of victory was not really big, Rahul will look back and wonder if he could have avoided the attempted slog and let the other batters play around him.
That broke LSG’s back and everyone’s patience was tested during the wait for the overs to be bowled out. Nicholas Pooran’s reverse-swept six off Ravindra Jadeja was spectacular, but CSK had the score to be able to give Rajvardhan Hangargekar and the no-ball-prone Tushar Deshpande the opportunity to bowl the last two overs.
CSK openers dominate Power Play and beyond
Earlier, Gaikwad and Conway complemented one another on a track that played a lot truer than most anticipated. From the moment Gaikwad caned Avesh Khan in the second over of the match, the Chennai openers were unstoppable. Though Rahul employed five bowlers, Chennai rattled off 79 runs in the power play.
Gaikwad banked on sheer timing in playing the field as he reached his second successive half-century, an attractive one at that. His aggression meant that Conway could play a happy second fiddle until he waded into Mark Wood and became a nearly equal contributor during the 110-run stand.
Bishnoi showcases large heart
Ravi Bishnoi, one of Lucknow’s retentions from last season, showed his temperament to be a fabulous ally for his googly-bowling talent, not just in claiming three wickets in four overs but also in curbing the rampant stroke-makers. He was calm when he came on to bowl the 10th over with the Chennai openers having slammed 110. He had Gaikwad top-edging a catch with his first delivery.
It was when Shivam Dube clouted him for successive sixes over long-on that Bishnoi’s large heart was tested. He came up with a brilliant riposte, first beating the left-hander’s attempt to complete a hat-trick of sixes and then finding the top-edge for another catch to Mark Wood in the circle. In his final over, he saw Moeen dance down the track and set up a simple stumping.
Yash Thakur catches the eye
In such a high-scoring game, Lucknow’s Yash Thakur did well to not only quell nerves on IPL debut after replacing Jaydev Unadkat, the left-arm pacer, in the starting XI but also to show that he belonged. With a calm head on his shoulders, he reveled in taking the pace off the ball to finish with respectable figures in his four overs. On a night when Wood went for 49, Thakur conceded just 36.
Crowd marks its presence
Since matches are not played in a vacuum, it is hard not to mention the empty spaces in the galleries early on. Considering that the Super Kings were playing a home game after nearly four years, it was surprising that more than a few yellow bucket seats remained unoccupied. Chennai may not like it, but Bangalore have stolen a march in the loyalty battle.
The crowd came into its own, waving cell phone flashlights, when ‘Thala’ Dhoni walked in and tonked Wood for two sixes to reach 5000 runs in IPL cricket. And then it lost its voice when Mayers waded into the listless home attack in the power play, only to regain it when three wickets fell in successive overs.