Asked to bat first by the visitors, Chennai suffered an early setback as Matt Henry provided LSG the first breakthrough on the very last ball of the opening over. Henry bowled the first five balls either on good length or just short of it.
For the last ball, he went full outside off and Ajinkya Rahane couldn't resist the temptation to drive at it. But all he managed was an outside edge as it went to the right side of K.L. Rahul - the first slip was a touch wide - and the keeper dived full length and pouched it.
In the next over, Mohsin Khan could have had Daryl Mitchell, but Yash Thakur dropped a straightforward chance at short third.
Gaikwad then struck back-to-back boundaries and ended the over with a double through deep mid-wicket. It was an expensive over as 16 runs came of it. The LSG bowlers were offering width to skipper Gaikwad, and he was loving it. In the fourth over, Ravi Bishnoi made that mistake a couple of times and Gaikwad hit him for two boundaries.
From the other end, Henry bowled one full outside off, only for Gaikwad to drive him through covers. Two balls later, Henry shortened his length, but Gaikwad played a late cut to pick up another boundary to end the fifth over and moved to 36 off just 18 balls. Chennai Super Kings were 48/1 after five overs. It was a mixed bag of day in the field for LSG. While Rahul took an excellent catch, Thakur dropped Mitchell at short third and Henry failed to grab a much difficult chance at the same position. Apart from this, there was a misfield at extra cover, and just after that Deepak Hooda took a superb catch to dismiss Daryl Mitchell.
It was a short of a length delivery from Thakur and Mitchell went for the pull. He struck it alright but didn’t get the desired elevation as Hooda showed great reflexes at short midwicket and took it overhead, slightly to his left. Mitchell departed after scoring 11 runs. Ravindra Jadeja was the new batter and Thakur bowled four straight dots to him to end the powerplay.
Gaikwad scored 37 runs in the Power-play and had only twice scored more in this phase in T20s. Coincidentally, his best score in the Power-play (46) was also against LSG and at Chepauk. Gaikwad continued his rich batting on a tricky pitch as he reached his third half-century of the season in 28 deliveries. CSK were 85/2 after 10 overs.
It was a slower ball from Mohsin Khan, bowled into the surface as it angled across Jadeja, who went for the pull but only got a glove to it as Rahul completed an easy catch behind the wicket. CSK were 103/3 after 12 overs with Gaikwad motoring along on 71 off 39 balls. The other batters managed to contribute only 30 off 33 deliveries.
The in-form Shivam Dube walked to the crease and straightaway sent his fourth delivery for the first maximum of the innings, which came after 12.5 overs. Mohsin bowled one slightly full around off and Dube launched him down the ground for a maximum.
After hitting Marcus Stoinis for a six and a four across the allrounder's two overs, Dube latched onto Yash Thakur and hammered him for three successive sixes in the 16th over. Dube moved to 37 off just 15 balls, and CSK were 154/3 after 16. It was an excellent innings from Gaikwad - he slammed his sixth hundred in T20 cricket, which came off 56 balls, after a sequence of 6, 4, 4 against Yash Thakur. Gaikwad, at 27 years and 83 days, became the second-youngest captain to score a hundred in the IPL after Sanju Samson.
In the 19th over, Dube smashed two fours and a six against Mohsin and brought up his fifty off just 22 balls. Both batters added 104 runs for the fourth-wicket partnership in just 46 deliveries. Dube started the final over with a six off Stoinis but was run out for 66 off 27 with two balls left in the innings.
That brought MS Dhoni to the middle. Gaikwad took a single on the penultimate ball and Dhoni, as he has done throughout this season, finished off in style with a boundary. He moved towards the offside to a full delivery and muscled it over midwicket for four as CSK finished with 210/4. Skipper Gaikwad remained not out on 108 runs.
Brief score:
Chennai Super Kings 210/4 in 20 overs (Ruturaj Gaikwad 108 not out, Shivam Dube 66; Matt Henry 1-28, Yash Thakur 1-47) against Lucknow Super Giants.
(IANS)
