Evin Lewis and Quinton de Kock scored half-centuries as Lucknow Supergiants registered their first win by defeating defending champions Chennai Super Kings by six wickets on Thursday. Chasing Super Kings’ target of 211, Supergiants registered a victory at 211 for four with three balls to spare from half-centuries from Lewis (55 not out off 23 balls, three sixes, six fours) and De Kock (61).
De Kock got the team off to a great start by adding 99 runs for the first wicket with captain Lokesh Rahul (40), after which Lewis shared an unbroken 40-run partnership in just 2.1 overs for the fifth wicket with Ayush Badoni (19 not out in nine balls). Took the team to the target. Dwayne Pretorius took two wickets for 31 runs but could not save the Super Kings from their second successive defeat.
Robin Uthappa’s 27-ball 50 with the help of eight fours and a six, while Shivam Dubey scored 49 runs in his 30-ball knock with five fours and two sixes as Super Kings posted a score of 210 for seven. . Moeen Ali (35 off 22 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (27 off 20 balls) also played useful innings.
Ravi Bishnoi 24, Avesh Khan 38 and Andrew Tye took two wickets for 41 runs for Supergiants. Rahul and De Kock got the Supergiants off to a good start chasing the target. Rahul started with sixes and fours off pacer Mukesh Chaudhary while Tushar Deshpande hit three fours in the over. De Kock also hit three fours on Chaudhary in the fifth over.
De Kock was lucky on the score of 30 when Moeen dropped his easy catch off Dwayne Bravo. The team scored 55 runs without losing a wicket in the power play. Rahul welcomes Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen with sixes. However, he was lucky in Moeen’s hour when Deshpande dropped his difficult catch.
De Kock completed his fifty in 34 balls with a run off Bravo. Jadeja then handed the ball to Dwayne Pretorius and, not disappointing the captain, he got Rahul caught by Rayudu at fine leg on the second ball. He hit three sixes and two fours in his 26-ball innings.
Manish Pandey, after scoring five runs, was caught by Deshpande at mid-off and caught by Bravo. Evin Lewis showed his attitude as soon as he arrived. He increased the run rate by hitting two fours and a six on Deshpande. Dekock, however, was caught by wicketkeeper Dhoni by waving Pretorius’s ball in the air. He hit nine fours in his 45-ball knock. Supergiants needed 67 runs to win in the last five overs. Lewis and Deepak Hooda hit fours on Bravo. Lewis also hit a six on Pretorius.
Hooda (13) hit a six on Bravo but was caught by Jadeja on the next ball. With this wicket, Bravo also became the most successful bowler of IPL. This was his 171 wickets in IPL. Lasith Malinga has 170 wickets in his name. Supergiants needed 34 runs in the last two overs. Dubey came out to bowl and Badoni hit a six off the very first ball. Lewis also completed his half-century in 23 balls, hitting two fours and sixes in the last three balls of the over. 25 runs were scored in this over.
Supergiants needed just nine runs in the last over. Badoni gave the team victory with a six and then a run on Chaudhary. Earlier, opting to bat after losing the toss, Super Kings lost the wicket of Ruturaj Gaikwad (01) in the third over itself, who was run out. However, the team managed to score 73 for one wicket in the power play due to the stormy batting of experienced opener Uthappa.
Uthappa started fast bowler Avesh with fours in the first two balls of the match. In the next over, he hit a six and a four on Dushmanta Chameera and then Avesh. Uthappa hit four fours in the over while Moeen welcomed Krunal Pandya off three consecutive deliveries with two fours and a six. Uthappa completed his 26th IPL fifty in 25 balls with two runs off leg-spinner Bishnoi. However, he was leg before a ball later, which ended his 78-run partnership with Moeen.
Dubey showed his attitude with three fours on Chameera while Moin hit Bishnoi with a four to take the team’s score past 100 runs in the 10th over. Avesh then returned to the bowling and bowled Moeen for the third blow to the Super Kings.