Marcus Stoinis turned out to be the difference between the two teams as Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) chased down 211 with three balls to spare to create history at Chepauk. Captain Ruturaj Gaikwad became the first Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter whose century went in vain. After the defeat Gaikwad blamed the dew factor for underusing spinners while pacers were taken to the cleaners.
Ravindra Jadeja who erred with a no ball in his first over came back well and conceded just five runs from his second. After Matheesha Pathirana got rid of Devdutt Padikkal, Gaikwad did not give the veteran left-arm spinner another over while pacers took a beating. Jadeja conceded 16 runs from his two overs.
“It (dew) played a part, there was a huge amount of dew and it took our spinners out of the game. We could have otherwise controlled the game better and taken it deeper. But these are parts of the game, can’t control it,” the skipper said in the post-match presentation.
Deepak Chahar was economical too as he conceded 11 runs from his two overs and picked up the wicket of Quinton de Kock. But Gaikwad chose to give the 16th over to impact player Shardul Thakur who was already expensive and wicketless.
Lost control in last 6 overs
Gaikwad credited Stoinis for his belligerent knock and admitted that the hosts lost control in the last six overs.
“Tough pill to swallow, but good game of cricket. LSG played really well in the back end. We had the game in control till 13-14 overs, but Stoinis played a great innings,” he said.
Gaikwad also explained Jadeja's promotion to no.4. The all-rounder was ineffective at the position and scored 16 runs from 19 balls.
“Jaddu is batting at number 4 since we lost the second wicket within the powerplay,” he said.
210 wasn't enough!
Gaikwad, who remained unbeaten for 108 runs, also said that he felt that the target of 211 was below par considering the conditions.
“Our thinking is clear that after the powerplay if there is a wicket, Shivam will come out to bat. We can’t force batters to get out after. To be honest, I thought our target wasn’t enough, it was just about par because of the dew we’ve seen during our practice sessions. But credit to the way LSG batted,” he concluded.
This was CSK’s first defeat at home in the season. They slipped to fifth spot on the points table with four wins from eight games.
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