Mumbai: The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) snatched their first victory of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, beating the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 6 wickets.
Coming to bat first, Chennai Super Kings made three changes to their line-up. Moeen Ali, Dwaine Pretorius and Mukesh Choudhary were being named in the playing eleven. Robin Uthappa started the CSK innings with two sublime shots for four. A brilliant presence of mind and great fielding effort from Ravi Bishnoi for LSG put Ruturaj Gaikwad back to pavilion. Uthappa managed to dominate the powerplay, smashing the ball all around the park. He had eight fours and a six. Moeen Ali joined him to pull Chennai at a flyer of 73-1 after 6 overs. The big-hits from Uthappa put him to 50 just of 27 deliveries. However it came to an end with a lbw by Ravi Bishnoi.
CSK crossed the century mark in the 10th over with Shivam Dube joining Moeen Ali. Moeen Ali was cleaned up by Avesh Khan as Ambati Rayudu stepped in. With Dube doing the majority of the striking the fifty run partnership came from the fourth wicket. Ravi Bishnoi bowled the dangerman Rayudu for 27. The former Indian and CSK skipper MS Dhoni hammered his first delivery for a six to the off-side. The crowd roared as a four came up in the penultimate over. Dhoni wrapped the innings as CSK posted a commanding total of 210/7.
An enthralling innings from Evin Lewis led LSG to win the match. Opener Quinton de Kock and KL Rahul looked confident as 55 came up from the powerplay. Quiton de Kock crossed his 50-mark as Lucknow stood 98 without any lose at the 10th over. Dwaine Pretorius put Kock in the pavilion with a sharp sprinting catch from Rayudu. Manish Pandey got surrendered to Tushar Deshpande with a “Bravo” mid-off catch.
LSG struck 15 from the 14th over, all credits to Evin Lewis’ six and a four. More importantly, CSK got the all-important wicket of de Kock. Deepak Hooda joined Evin Lewis as the duo smacked two sixes and three fours. Dwayne Bravo dismissed Hooda to become the all-time leading wicket taker in the history of the Indian Premier League. With 34 required off 12 balls, Evin Lewis and young Ayush Badoni hammered 25 runs in the penultimate over with 2 sixes and 2 fours. Ayush Badoni conceived the chase in style for Super Giants with a maximum to power them to their first-ever victory in the tournament.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 211-4 (Quinton de Kock 61, Evin Lewis 55*; Dwaine Pretorius 2-31) beat Chennai Super Kings 210-7 (Robin Uthappa 50, Shivam Dube 49; Ravi Bishnoi 2-24) by 6 wickets.
