NEW DELHI: It was MS Dhoni mania once again, this time at the Ekana Stadium as the Chennai Super Kings talisman pulled off an incredible 9-ball 28 not out cameo, delighting the Lucknow fans on Friday.
The hosts had kept things under control before Dhoni and Moeen Ali (30 off 20) went on a six-hitting spree at the death to take CSK to a fighting 176 for six.
But despite leaking runs in the final over, Lucknow Super Giants restricted Chennai to a moderate total and then pulled off the chase comfortably with 6 balls to spare.Skipper Rahul led from the front with a whirlwind 53-ball 82 as Lucknow beat CSK for their fourth win of the season.
After the match, KL admitted that his bowers leaked extra runs at the death as they were swayed away by Dhoni’s presense in the middle. Rahul admitted that his young bowlers got under pressure by the Dhoni’s presence.
“160-165 would have been ideal but yah again its MSD (smiles). He walks in and the pressure gets to the bowlers. That’s the presense and intimidation he has had over teams and bowlers. We have a young team and I think it was the first time they were put under pressure by huge figure like MS. Crowd was really relly loud. But I still thought they stuck to their plans. He is a phenominal player to still hit them for sixes. Yeah, 15-20 runs extra but we knew if we bat well we can chase it down,” Rahul said at the post-match presentation.
Rahul, the leader, had a good day in office as he was spot-on with his bowling changes and also took two catches and affected a stumping before returning to smash a match-winning 82.
“Feels good at the end of the day, When you win, looks like you make all the decisions right,” said Player of the Match Rahul.
“Impossible to get all right. Depends on the kind of wicket we are playing on and the kind of batters there are. We spend time doing homework on tactics and strategy and we spoke about them not settling against one style of bowling,” he added.
Chasing 177, Rahul (82) and De Kock (54) batted with authority during their match-winning alliance of 134, the highest partnership for any wicket at the Ekana Stadium, as LSG scored 180 for 2 in 19 overs.
“Felt that if we bat well, we could chase it down. I have been trying to assess the situation and today it came off. With Chennai’s spinners, they tried to put brakes on us,” Rahul said.
“We tried to get to a good start. Tried to take them down, luckily it came off. When your partnership goes on, you can take a few more chances. Glad that it happened.”
Ruturaj Gaikwad, the CSK captain, said his team was 10-15 runs short with dew coming in.
“We finished off very well, couldn’t have asked for more. But after powerplay, we couldn’t kick on till 14-15th over. We lost wickets regularly and were 10-15 short.
“Slightly difficult to bat but with Impact Player rule you need an extra batter. With dew coming on later, felt 180-190 could have been good.”
CSK bowlers couldn’t produce a breakthrough as Rahul and De Kock batted well in the powerplay and Gaikwad agreed they needed to bowl better in the first six overs.
“[Bowling in the powerplay] is one area we would like to improve, puts opposition on the back foot if we can get wickets in the powerplay. Good to play them again soon, will come back with homework done,” he said.
The two teams will again face off on April 23 at Chepauk.
(With inputs from PTI)
The hosts had kept things under control before Dhoni and Moeen Ali (30 off 20) went on a six-hitting spree at the death to take CSK to a fighting 176 for six.
But despite leaking runs in the final over, Lucknow Super Giants restricted Chennai to a moderate total and then pulled off the chase comfortably with 6 balls to spare.Skipper Rahul led from the front with a whirlwind 53-ball 82 as Lucknow beat CSK for their fourth win of the season.
After the match, KL admitted that his bowers leaked extra runs at the death as they were swayed away by Dhoni’s presense in the middle. Rahul admitted that his young bowlers got under pressure by the Dhoni’s presence.
“160-165 would have been ideal but yah again its MSD (smiles). He walks in and the pressure gets to the bowlers. That’s the presense and intimidation he has had over teams and bowlers. We have a young team and I think it was the first time they were put under pressure by huge figure like MS. Crowd was really relly loud. But I still thought they stuck to their plans. He is a phenominal player to still hit them for sixes. Yeah, 15-20 runs extra but we knew if we bat well we can chase it down,” Rahul said at the post-match presentation.
Rahul, the leader, had a good day in office as he was spot-on with his bowling changes and also took two catches and affected a stumping before returning to smash a match-winning 82.
“Feels good at the end of the day, When you win, looks like you make all the decisions right,” said Player of the Match Rahul.
“Impossible to get all right. Depends on the kind of wicket we are playing on and the kind of batters there are. We spend time doing homework on tactics and strategy and we spoke about them not settling against one style of bowling,” he added.
Chasing 177, Rahul (82) and De Kock (54) batted with authority during their match-winning alliance of 134, the highest partnership for any wicket at the Ekana Stadium, as LSG scored 180 for 2 in 19 overs.
“Felt that if we bat well, we could chase it down. I have been trying to assess the situation and today it came off. With Chennai’s spinners, they tried to put brakes on us,” Rahul said.
“We tried to get to a good start. Tried to take them down, luckily it came off. When your partnership goes on, you can take a few more chances. Glad that it happened.”
Ruturaj Gaikwad, the CSK captain, said his team was 10-15 runs short with dew coming in.
“We finished off very well, couldn’t have asked for more. But after powerplay, we couldn’t kick on till 14-15th over. We lost wickets regularly and were 10-15 short.
“Slightly difficult to bat but with Impact Player rule you need an extra batter. With dew coming on later, felt 180-190 could have been good.”
CSK bowlers couldn’t produce a breakthrough as Rahul and De Kock batted well in the powerplay and Gaikwad agreed they needed to bowl better in the first six overs.
“[Bowling in the powerplay] is one area we would like to improve, puts opposition on the back foot if we can get wickets in the powerplay. Good to play them again soon, will come back with homework done,” he said.
The two teams will again face off on April 23 at Chepauk.
(With inputs from PTI)
