Deshpande to bowl the 20th. He starts with a wide. CSK need to have an extra fielder inside the circle because they were too slow bowling their overs. Deshpande concedes a leg bye off a no ball! It is a free hit for Badoni, who collects just 2. Deshpande now gets Badoni and that’s the match, surely. Mark Wood, the new man, will be on strike. He ends the over with a four and a six but that’s not enough in the end.
CSK beats LSG by 12 runs and get their first points in the tournament. That would be all from our side. Thanks for joining us.
Hangargekar to bowl the 19th. What performance under pressure. Hangargekar gives away just nine.
Deshpande. 7 from the over. Excellent from Deshpande.
Deepak Chahar into the attack. Chahar has had a forgettable night. He bowls three consecutive wides and then bowls one in the slot. Gowtham puts it away for six. He is dropped on 10 by Shivam. Chahar’s done for the night. 55 in 4 overs.
Deshpande back into the attack. And he has the desired ‘impact’ at last, does Deshpande! He gets Pooran out off the last ball, caught by Stokes at long-off. Gowtham is the new man in.
Ravindra Jadeja into the attack now. LH Pooran taking down Jadeja. He starts with a glorious drive over extra cover for six before reverse sweeping one over deep backward point. 14 off the over.
Moeen Ali clean bowls Stoinis! What a spell. Stoinis goes for 21. Ayush Badoni off the mark with a couple of runs. Moeen’s done with his spell as well. Picks up 4 for 26.
TIME OUT! Super Giants need 82 runs in 36 balls.
Santner will bowl out. Just 3 off the over. Santner: 1 for 21 off his four.
Rajvardhan Hangargekar into the attack. Hangargekar bowls in the slot and Pooran slams it for six over deep mid-wicket. Pooran carves away the next ball behind point for four more. Pooran collects four, scythes it over deep extra. 15 off the over.
Nic Pooran is the new man in. Tidy stuff from Mitch Santner, five off it.
Moeen Ali after the break. Stoinis brings up the 100 with an effortless maximum over long-on. But Moeen has the last laugh as he snaps up Stoinis’s batting partner Krunal, who holes out near the long-on rope.
Santner continues... Krunal goes to the leg side and gets six. Adventurous but LSG need to take risks. 12 off the Santner over.
TIME OUT!
Krunal Pandya comes to the crease. Moeen continues. He bags another one as KL Rahul now holes out trying to up the ante, goes across the line and pays the price. Marcus Stoinis comes to the crease. Stoinis reverse sweeps for a single. Just 2 runs and a wicket from the over.
Mitchell Santner into the attack. He strikes as well, Hooda caught near the ropes by Stokes. LSG lose two in quick time.
Moeen Ali into the attack. Mayers reaches his fifty off just 21 balls! But he perishes in the same over, caught! Deepak Hooda is in next. 7 runs and a wicket from the over.
Chahar’s bowling his third. He bowls short again and Mayers just pulls it disdainfully for four more. Chahar has completely lost his radar - bowls another short, wide ball and Mayers just slaps it away for another four. Rahul ends with a boundary. 17 off the over.
Tushar Deshpande comes into the attack. Deshpande, the Impact Player, bowls a dot ball but he has overstepped. Free hit for Mayers. Deshpande now bowls a wide. So, the free hit stays. Deshpande oversteps again! Dear God... now another wide.. Deshpande is all over the place. Mayers gets another freebie - a full toss that he gleefully hits for four. Deshpande bowls another wide. LSG bring up their 50. Mayers has lit up Chepauk with his power-hitting, swings and connects as this full ball flies over long-on for six. 18 from it.
Chahar continues. Mayers sees width outside off and slaps a cut shot past point for four more. Chahar drops short and Mayers swivels a pull for four. Mayers is getting stuck into Chahar, drives a friendly low full toss through covers for four.
Ben Stokes shares the new ball. Mayers plays his trademark backfoot cut square of the wicket for four. He follows it up with another boundary, this time down the ground. Mayers is teeing off at Chepauk, clears the front foot and lofts this half volley over long-off for six. 18 off.
Mayers and Rahul to kickstart the chase. Chahar with the new ball. Tushar Deshpande replaces Ambati Rayudu as Impact Player. Rahul on strike with a slip in place. Chahar drops one short and Rahul swivels a pull for four. Seven off the over.
Wood to bowl the 20th. Ayush Badoni replaces Avesh Khan. Badoni is LSG’s Impact Player. Jaddu holes out first ball! Chepauk erupts as Dhoni walks out to the crease. Dhoni swings at a wide delivery and gets six! Ho ho ho, Wood tests Dhoni with a bouncer and the CSK skipper absolutely hammers this pull shot for six. He crosses 5,000 IPL runs before getting caught next ball! Mitchell Santner to face the last two balls. Santner takes a single and gives Rayudu the strike for the last ball. Just one off the last ball. 14 from it.
LSG need 218 to win.
Yash Thakur to bowl out. Rayudu brings up the 200 with a four. Nine from the over.
Ravindra Jadeja is the new man at the crease with three overs to go. Wood will bowl the 18th. Meanwhile, Rayudu welcomes Wood back with a first-ball six. Standing outside off-stump and flicks it for a maximum. He does one better, moments later, as he steps out and absolutely smacks a full ball over long on for six. 16 runs off the over.
Avesh back into the attack. Last four overs. He concedes eight and gets rid of the big man, Ben Stokes!
Bishnoi gets another breakthrough. Moeen plays all over a googly and is stumped!
TIME OUT!
Ambati Rayudu, the new man, slog sweeps a full ball for four. 6 runs and a wicket. Bishnoi: 4-0-28-3.
Avesh into the attack. Moeen carves a drive through covers for four. What timing, what placement. He follows it up with another boundary. Make that a hat-trick of fours as Moeen guides the last ball to the third man fence.
Dube shifting gears. He gets a short ball from Bishnoi and deposits it over long-on for six. Bishnoi errs by bowling too full and Dube has smoked it over long on again. Dube now gets a top edge and is caught! Another slog from Dube , but miscued and pays the price. Stokes the new man in.
Yash Thakur back around the wicket. A struggling Dube finally breaks the shackles with a lofted drive down the ground for six. He ends the over with a pull shot for four. 12 from the over.
Bishnoi continues. Really good over. Only 5 from it.
Conway moves to 47 with a boundary first ball! And he perishes next ball, caught in the deep by Krunal. What an excellent take! Conway goes for 47 off 29. Moeen Ali in next. 6 runs and a wicket.
Here’s Ravi Bishnoi with his leg-break. GONE! He strikes straightaway... Gaikwad is caught by Wood at short third. Sharp catch. Shivam Dube promoted to No. 3. He opens his account with an innocuous single. Four runs from the over.
Yash outsmarts Gaikwad with a bumper but Gaikwad’s attempted pull takes a top edge and loops over Avesh at short fine leg and races away for four. Yash now bowling pace off. Both batters have run really well between the wickets. Nine coming off that over.
Gaikwad gets to back-to-back fifties, with a single off Krunal. This is Gaikwad’s first game at Chepauk and he has put on an exhibition. His 50 came off just 25 balls. Conway, who had been quiet for a while, now smacks Krunal for a maximum over long-on. That’s an 86 mt-long hit. Conway ends the over with a powerful swipe for another six. 15 off it.
Yash Thakur, Vidarbha quick, into the attack. Two singles off the first two balls. Tidy start from the youngster. Just 5 from the over. Hold on ... it was going to be a good over but Thakur has opverstepped and it’s a free hit for Gaikwad. Just one run off the extra ball. Not a bad outcome. 7 from the over
Mark Wood steams in and is greeted by a Conway drive for four. Conway loves pace on. Wood then concedes 4 byes, the ball flying over Conway and Pooran behind stumps. Conway follows it up with a regal pull for four. Gaikwad now plays an outrageous flick to collect six. What a start. 19 off it. This is now CSK’s highest ever Powerplay score at Chepauk.
K Gowtham to bowl inside the PowerPlay. Gaikwad backs away and whacks one over the bowler’s head for the first six of the innings. All power from Gaikwad on that occassion. He does one better in the same over when he launches Gowtham, this time over long-off for six more. CSK’s 50 comes up. He very nearly gets four off the next ball but Deepak Hooda’s athleticism saves two. But Gaikwad wraps up the over with another maximum over deep cover. 20 from the over.
Krunal Pandya, playing his 100th IPL match, into the attack. Krunal bowling well over 90kph. Krunal drops one short and Gaikwad rocks back to pull it for four. 7 off Krunal’s first.
Gaikwad says ‘why should Conway have all the fun’ and expertly guides a full ball outside off to the point rope. 10 off Mayers’ second over.
Avesh Khan shares the new ball and concedes five wides first ball. Oh, hang on! KL Rahul has reviewed a wide ball call. LSG lose a review as replays confirm the ball did not brush anything on the way to the fence. Gaikwad collects three through deep midwicket and the on-field umpired felt Avesh had overstepped and signalled a no-ball. But the call was rescinded upon review by the third umpire. Conway then gets stuck into Avesh, first hits him behind square through point to the fence before carving the next ball through the covers. Very expensive over for LSG - 17 from it.
Kyle Mayers to take the new ball. Conway and Ruturaj to open for CSK. Ruturaj to take strike. Slight delay as a dog runs onto the field. It happened during the third and final ODI between India and Australia a few weeks back. Gaikwad gets off the mark with a single first ball, delayed by five minutes. Mayers getting the new ball to swing. Conway’s off the mark as well, with a single. Six came off the first over.
Lucknow Super Giants: Ayush Badoni, Jaydev Unadkat, Daniel Sams, Prerak Mankad, Amit Mishra
Chennai Super Kings: Tushar Deshpande, Dwaine Pretorius, Subhranshu Senapati, Shaik Rasheed, Ajinkya Rahane
Ben Stokes to Star Sports: “Everything is coming on nicely. I feel like I’ve worked really hard to get to the place where I am at the moment with my knee. I think I might be able to turn the arm over tonight.”
LSG has won the toss and decided to bowl first. CSK returns to its home venue for the first time since 2019.
Lucknow Super Giants (Playing 11): KL Rahul(c), Kyle Mayers, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran(w), Krishnappa Gowtham, Mark Wood, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur, Avesh Khan
Chennai Super Kings (Playing 11): Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni(w/c), Shivam Dube, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, RS Hangargekar
CSK Predicted Playing 11: Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Shivam Dube/Prashant Solanki, MS Dhoni, Deepak Chahar, Mitchell Santner, Rajvardhan Hangargekar
LSG Predicted Playing 11: KL Rahul, Kyle Mayers, Nicholas Pooran, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Ayush Badoni/K Gowtham, Mark Wood, Jaydev Unadkat, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan
Returning to its fortress at the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium for the first time since 2019, Chennai Super Kings will hope to get the better of Lucknow Super Giants and post its first win of the IPL this year on Monday.
CSK lost the season opener in Ahmedabad to Gujarat Titans by five wickets and will need to come up with a better overall performance to tackle the Super Giants’ challenge. While Ruturaj Gaikwad laid the platform with a brilliant 92, none of the other batters complemented him, and Super Kings ended up with a sub-par total which proved costly in the end. Similarly, death bowling is an area of concern with an inexperienced pace attack.
However, the pitch at Chepauk, which has traditionally assisted spin, should favour the home team and paper over the cracks in its bowling department. A lot rides on left-arm spinners Mitchell Santner and Ravindra Jadeja to give breakthroughs during the middle overs.
On the other hand, Super Giants come into the game on the back of a thumping 50-run win over the Delhi Capitals in its first match. The West Indies contingent of Kyle Mayers and Nicholas Pooran led LSG’s charge with the bat before Mark Wood sealed it with a brilliant five-wicket haul. Wood’s fiery pace could pose a big challenge for the Super Kings’ top order.
But before whatever happens over the 40 overs on Monday, expect the biggest cheers to reverberate across the stadium when M.S. Dhoni walks to the centre for the toss. It is the moment fans in the city have been waiting patiently for the last few years. A CSK win will just be the icing on the cake.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK): MS Dhoni (captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Singh, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma, and Sisanda Magala.
Lucknow Super Giants (LSG): KL Rahul (captain), Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Manan Vohra, Quinton de Kock, Marcus Stoinis, Krishnappa Gowtham, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayers, Krunal Pandya, Avesh Khan, Mohsin Khan, Mark Wood, Mayank Yadav, Ravi Bishnoi, Nicholas Pooran, Jaydev Unadkat, Yash Thakur, Romario Shepherd, Daniel Sams, Amit Mishra, Prerak Mankad, Swapnil Singh, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Yudhvir Singh.