MumbaI, March 31: A 61-run knock from wicket-keeper batter Quinton de Kock and an unbeaten 55 from Evin Lewis helped Lucknow Super Giants chase down a huge target of 211 to register a six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings here at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday.
Chasing a huge target of 211, Lucknow Super Giants needed a flying start and their openers did exactly that as captain KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock hit Mukesh Choudhary and Tushar Deshpande for boundaries to notch up a 50-run partnership for the opening wicket in the fifth over.
Captain Ravindra Jadeja and off-spinner Moeen Ali proved ineffective.
Dwaine Pretorius dismissed KL Rahul for 40 off 26 balls as Lucknow lost their first wicket on 99.
In the next over, CSK got another breakthrough as Tushar Deshpande got the wicket of Manish Pandey for 5 to leave LSG at 106/2.
Wicket-keeper batter de Kock was joined by Evin Lewis and the duo kept the scoreboard moving. But Pretorius got his second wicket dismissing de Kock for 61 from 45 balls to reduce Lucknow to 139/3.
Deepak Hooda joined Lewis in the middle and the duo took LSG’s total beyond the 150-run mark in the 16th over. Dwayne Bravo then removed Hooda caught by Jadeja as LSG lost their fourth wicket for 171.
With 34 runs needed off the last two overs, Ayush Badoni started off with a six of the first ball and Lewis notched up his half-century off 23 balls. LSG scored 25 runs in the 19th over bowled by Shivam Dube.
With only 9 runs needed off the last over, Ayush Badoni wrapped up the match in style as Lucknow chased down the target in 19.3 overs for their first win in IPL.
Earlier, KL Rahul won the toss and put Chennai Super Kings to bat. Robin Uthappa started off brilliantly hitting consecutive boundaries to Avesh Khan in the very first two balls of the match. The defending champions scored 14 runs in the first over.
Ravi Bishnoi’s direct hit helped his side get the first breakthrough as he ran out Ruturaj Gaikwad for 1.
Moeen Ali walked in and batted aggressively to take CSK’s total beyond the 50-run mark in the fifth over.
In the last over of the powerplay, Moeen Ali smashed Krunal Pandya for 16 runs. Uthappa went on to notch up his half-century in just 25 balls.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi once again was the catalyst in getting Lucknow Super Giants the breakthrough as he got the crucial wicket of Uthappa for 50 off 27 balls.
CSK crossed the 200-run mark in the 20th over but Andrew Tye dismissed Jadeja for 17 and in the next ball dismissed Dwaine Pretorius for a golden duck and a boundary of the last ball by Dhoni helped Chennai put on 210/7 in 20 overs. Dhoni was unbeaten on 16. (ANI)
