Clash of Titans: LSG VS CSK 2023

 Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings were forced to split points as their Indian Premier League match was called off due to rain on Wednesday. With incessant rain lashing the Ekana Stadium, even the minimum five overs of the CSK innings weren’t possible after the home team had made 125 for seven in 19.2 overs when rain interrupted play.

LSG middle-order batter Ayush Badoni’s unbeaten 59 (33 balls; 2x4s, 4x6s) was the only bright spot in the home team’s otherwise lacklustre play as Chennai Super Kings’ Moeen Ali (2/13) and Maheesh Theekshana (2/37) impressed by making early inroads. The game began after a 15-minute delay due to wet outfield and rain returned in the final over of the first innings to halt the proceedings.

Badoni, smashed two fours and four sixes in his 33-ball-59 and his temperament on a surface conducive for slow bowlers was worth its weight in gold as it didn’t seem at one point that LSG could cross the 125-run mark. With 11 points from 10 games, LSG and CSK are placed second and third on the points table respectively. LSG (+0.639) have a better net run rate compared to CSK (+0.329). It was a good toss to win for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the CSK skipper’s decision to bowl first was vindicated by his bowlers on a surface that is certainly not good enough for an absorbing T20 contest.

CSK bowled brilliantly

The Chennai Super Kings bowlers started off well, bowled with discipline and didn’t give the LSG openers much. Deepak Chahar bowled an excellent first over to start off with a good mix of inswingers and outswingers. The CSK pacers gave away just two fours in the first three overs. MS Dhoni then introduced spin into the attack as early as the fourth over and the move combined with the pressure worked as Moeen Ali had Kyle Mayers (14 off 17) caught at long off.

Spin struck again two overs later as Maheesh Theekshana cleaned up Manan Vohra (10 off 11), who shuffled way across and missed his swipe to see the stumps shattered, and he then had Krunal Pandya caught at first slip where Ajinkya Rahane pulled off a brilliant low catch. Marcus Stoinis swept the hat-trick ball for four as LSG hobbled to 31/3 at the end of the Powerplay. Ravindra Jadeja then joined the wicket-taking party as he cleaned up Marcus Stoinis (6 off 4) with an absolute peach which left the LSG batter perplexed and stunned. It pitched outside the leg stump and hit the top of off.

Another one walked back to the hut as Moeen pulled off a brilliant reflex caught and bowled to dismiss Karan Sharma (9 off 16) as LSG reached 44/5 at the halfway mark. Moeen finished an excellent spell of 4-0-13-2 in which he didn’t concede a single boundary. CSK kept a tight leash on the scoring and it was Ayush Badoni who broke the shackles in the 15th over, heaving one over deep mid-wicket for the first six of the innings and taking 11 from the over. Badoni and Pooran took 10 from the next over by Matheesha Pathirana.

Badoni then took on Theekshana, cracking a six and a four to accumulate 15 from the over as the fifty-run stand came up from 44 balls. However, against the run of play, Pathirana struck to have Pooran (20 off 31) caught at extra cover. CSK brought on Ambti Rayudu as their Impact Player, replacing Theekshana in the 18th over. Badoni thought went from strength to strength and brought up his fifty with a four and a thumping six over deep mid-wicket off Chahar and then followed up with another thumping six over extra cover to make it 20 off the penultimate over.

Pathirana had K Gowtham caught at long on off the second ball of the final over before rain gods interrupted play. The rains didn’t relent and in the end, they forced the match to be abandoned. LSG had reached 125/7 from 19.2 overs with Badoni unbeaten on 59 off 33 balls.