RECAP
Follow UsRahane’s positive impact innings
Ajinkya Rahane opened against Mumbai previously, but tonight (April 19), he vindicated that call. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) struggled in the powerplay, scoring 51/2. Rahane contributed 26 of them in 16 balls. Overall, the right-hander scored 36 off 24 at a strike rate of 150 when Chennai were struggling for momentum.
LSG pin Dube down
Rahane also timed his dismissal to perfection. Bowled in the ninth over, Rahane made way for Shivam Dube to do his thing - hit spinners out of the park. However, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) managed to pin him down to 3 off eight balls. Marcus Stoinis got him to balloon a catch up in the air off good length. It was the first ball Stoinis bowled to Dube in his T20 career. Sameer Rizvi was out soon after.
ALSO READ: How to bowl to Shivam Dube?
Between Rahane and Rizvi’s dismissal, CSK managed only 22/3 in 25 balls.
The veterans shine
Ravindra Jadeja was promoted to No.4 to preserve Dube from the burst of LSG pacers. Jadeja had batted only seven times at that number before in IPL without much success. In this fixture, the move worked as the left-hander saw through the remaining powerplay overs and held the fort during a poor middle-over phase for CSK.
In the death overs, he accompanied MS Dhoni, who worked his 20th over magic again, looting 16 runs from the final four balls.
Jadeja walked back 57 not out from 40 balls, while Dhoni blasted 28 not out from nine deliveries (strike rate 311.11)
Krunal-Ekana, a love story
On a wicket that was supposed to turn, only one spinner was among the wickets. Krunal Pandya took 2/16 in his three overs, dismissing Rahane and Rizvi. Pandya has snaffled five wickets this season, all at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.
Rahul’s mastery
KL Rahul forged a 134-run opening stand with Quinton de Kock to make the run-chase a cakewalk for LSG. De Kock struggled to time the ball throughout the innings, but Rahul’s controlled aggression never let the game slip away. He was on 34 at the end of the powerplay, his highest powerplay score for LSG in IPL.
In a typical KL Rahul knock, he scored most of his runs behind square on the off-side - 40%.
