In the first home game of the continuing Indian Premier League on Monday, in Chennai, the Chennai Super Kings defeated the Lucknow Super Giants by a score of 12 runs at the fortress, the MA Chidambaram stadium. Star players Moeen Ali, Devon Conway, and Ruturaj Gaikwad led the way for the Chennai Super Kings in the victory.
CSK Inning:
Gaikwad scored his second consecutive fifty runs, and he and Conway, who scored 47 runs off the 29 deliveries, combined for 110 scores for the first wicket as CSK recorded a dominant 217/7 after just being put into bat.
After scoring 92 runs in the first game, Gaikwad scored 57 runs off 31 balls, including 3 fours and 4 sixes. Conway, who contributed 5 fours and 2 hits well over the fence, provided strong support for him throughout the game.
Dhoni hit a six that was 89 meters long and another one, which caused the enthusiastic fans in Chepauk to burst into ecstasies.
The jubilant fans got their first look at “Thala” (Dhoni) as he hit two massive sixes before even being bowled trying for a 3rd off of Mark Wood’s deliveries for 12 runs off of three balls. During his limited time on the field, the legendary CSK captain reached the 5,000-run mark in the IPL.
After the opening blast by Gaikwad making 57 runs off just 37 deliveries, 3 boundaries, 4 maximums, and Conway who made 47 runs off just 29 deliveries, 5 fours, and 2 sixes), there were crucial efforts from Shivam Dube who made 27 runs off just 16 deliveries, 1 boundary, 3 sixes) and Ali. Gaikwad scored 57 runs off 37 balls, and Conway scored 47 runs off 29 balls (19).
Ambati Rayudu scored 27 runs off 14 balls, including two maximums and also 2 fours, but his performance went unnoticed because of Dhoni’s spectacular hitting.
Wood, who was so efficient against Delhi Capitals last Sunday that he finished with five wickets for LSG, was not quite as successful this time around and finished with three for 49 runs from just 4 overs.
Thanks to a magnificent performance by leggy Ravi Bishnoi who picked 3 wickets for 28 runs in 4 overs), LSG was able to put the clamps on the freely scoring CSK hitters throughout the middle overs of the match.
Conway and Gaikwad, who were given the opportunity to bat initially, made full use of the fielding constraints to rack up 79 scores in the first 6 overs.
The elegant Gaikwad kept up the form he showed in the first game of the season, in which he smashed 92 runs, and in the company of the New Zealand left-hander, the team reached 100 runs in the eighth over of the game.
In the first over bowled by Krishnappa Gowtham, Gaikwad flighted 3 sixes with ease, giving the impression that batting was a breeze for him (fifth inning of the game). He proceeded to score runs and then hit a flip for a maximum off the bowling. Wood emphasized the peak physical condition he is currently in.
The CSK opening was scoring at a rapid rate and reached the century mark in the 8th over, while the LSG bowlers looked bewildered.
LSG Inning:
After that, Moeen Ali came back with some fantastic numbers, taking 4 for 26 off his overs, which assisted CSK in limiting LSG to 205/7.
For LSG, late striking by Nicholas Pooran (32 runs off just 18 deliveries, 2 boundaries, 3 maximums) and a frantic beginning attack by his teammate Kyle Mayers, West Indian (53 runs off 22 just deliveries, 8 fours, 2 maximums) went for naught. Mayers scored 53 runs off 22 balls. Pooran scored 32 runs.
After returning to his home ground, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni ensured the team’s maiden win in this year’s Indian Premier League by making strategic utilization of spinners.
Moeen Ali, a senior bowler, was responsible for the derailment of LSG’s pursuit by taking the wickets of LSG skipper K L Rahul, Krunal Pandya, Mayers, and Marcus Stoinis (21).
The opening over from pacemen Deepak Chahar conceded 55 runs in just 4 overs and took no wickets and Tushar Deshpande who conceded 45 runs in 4 overs taking 2 wickets was a letdown, conceding 18 runs on 3 wides and 2 no-balls. They came in there for Ambati Rayudu as Impact Player.
On the fourth over, the flashy Mayers and Rahul contributed to the team’s score of 50.
Weak bowling by Deshpande, Chahar, and Ben Stokes (1-0-18-0) won’t work CSK’s situation as they surrendered runs within powerplay as LSG hitters mounted a solid response in pursuit of 218. This won’t work for CSK’s situation at all.
Even though Rahul was playing a supporting role, Mayers scored his second fifty in a row to get LSG off to a strong start. Mayers had reached 79 runs within only 5.2 overs when he was out of the game against the flow of play when he attempted a big shot off of Moeen Ali but was caught by Conway in the deep.
Quickly falling to 82 for 3, LSG dismissed Rahul for 20 and Deepak Hooda for 2 as they went for huge shots, thanks to the efforts of Mitchell Santner and Ali.
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Aon Ali has graduated from the Institute of Engineering and Technology, Multan in 2012 and then he started his career in a local News agency as an IT manager. Later on, he started creating news reports for the sports category. Since he is fond of cricket, so most of his work is in the coverage of news related to local cricket events.
