Lucknow Super Giants defeated Chennai Super Kings by six wickets to register their first win in the Indian Premier League on Thursday. Meanwhile, CSK skipper Ravindra Jadeja admitted that his team needs to practice with the wet ball which troubled a lot that saw them leaking runs in the final overs which cost them the match.
Set an imposing target of 211, first-timers LSG completed the task with three balls to spare at the Brabourne Stadium. Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul scored 61 and 40, respectively, while Evin Lewis blazed away to 55 off 23 balls.
"We had a very good start, Robbie and Shivam Dube were playing brilliantly. We had a good start, but in the fielding, we have to take catches then you'll win matches. We should have taken those chances.
"There was a lot of dew, the ball wasn't sticking to the hand. Next time, we have to practise with the wet ball. We batted brilliantly in the top-six and in the middle-overs. The wicket was very good to bat on. As a bowling unit, we need to execute our plans.
LSG's run chase of 211 got off to an ideal start with skipper KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock going all guns blazing. In the powerplay overs, the duo scored 55 runs to set the tone for the run chase. In the 11th over, IPL debutant Dwaine Pretorius got the major breakthrough with the wicket of skipper Rahul. He scored 40 runs off 26 deliveries including two fours and three sixes. Coming at no.3 Manish Pandey failed to make a mark again and departed after scoring just five runs from six deliveries. The scoreboard pressure got to De Kock as well and he played a rash shot to lose his wicket in the 15th over.
After the Proteas wicketkeeper-batter's wicket, LSG needed 72 more runs from 32 deliveries. Lewis took charge of the run chase and was well-supported by Deepak Hooda's mini cameo. However, Dwayne Bravo got the wicket of Hooda in the 18th over to make it tough for LSG. Bravo also became the highest wicket-taker in the history of IPL surpassing Lasith Malinga.
On the other end, Lewis kept on firing. He got the perfect partner in young half-centurion of previous game, Ayush Badoni. Jadeja made the mistake of giving the penultimate over to Shivam Dube which turned out to be a fatal one. Dube went for 25 runs in the 19th over which made it easy for them to chase down the total of 211 with three balls to spare. In the last over, debutant Mukesh Chaudhary failed to contain Lewis and Badoni and bowled loose deliveries. While Badoni contributed with nine-ball 19, Lewis remained unbeaten for 55 off 23 deliveries. The Caribbean batter's innings was laced with six fours and three sixes.
Earlier, sent into bat, Chennai Super Kings scored 210 for seven.
Uthappa scored a fluent 50 off 27 balls to give CSK a solid start before Shivam Dube made 49 off 30 deliveries, while skipper Ravindra Jadeja (17 off 9) and MS Dhoni (16 off 6), who slammed two fours and a six, provided the final flourish to ensure that the four-time champions have plenty of runs on the board.
Young leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (2/24) did a tremendous job with the wet ball in an otherwise insipid performance by the Super Giants' bowling unit. Andrew Tye (2/41) managed to pick two wickets in his final over.