Lucknow Super Giants defeated Chennai Super Kings by 6 wickets in a high-scoring thrilling match played at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday night to record their first victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 tournament.
The opening batsman Quinton de Kock scored 61 and middle-order batsmen Evin Lewis cracked 55 not out to help Lucknow Super Giants record their first ever victory.
After Lucknow Super Giants won the toss and invited Chennai Super Kings to bat first, it looked like the new IPL team would be headed towards their second defeat as CSK amassed a total of 210/7 in their 20 overs.
CSK opening batsman Robin Uthappa scored 50 and other big contributions came from all-rounders Moeen Ali, who made 35, and Shivam Dube, who was unfortunate to have missed on his fifty as he was dismissed for 49.
Uthappa turned up the heat on Lucknow Super Giants bowlers right from the word go as the senior right-handed batsman bummed 8 fours and 1 six to make 50 from only 27 balls before he was dismissed. The other CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad had another failure as he was run out for just 1.
Moeen, playing his first match of the tournament, scored 35 from 22 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes whereas Dube showcased his talent with the bat making 49 from only 30 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes.
CSK middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu scored a 20-ball 27 with 2 fours and as many sixes, whereas their captain Ravindra Jadeja scored a 9-ball 17 with 3 fours. The former CSK captain MS Dhoni hit 2 fours and 1 six to score 16 not out from only 6 balls.
In their reply, KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock added 99 runs from 10.2 overs for the first wicket to put Lucknow Super Giants on track for a win, which was completed by the likes of Lewis, Deepak Hooda and the young Ayush Badoni, who both scored 13 and 19 not out respectively.
De Kock faced 45 balls to score 61 with the help of 9 boundaries whereas Rahul fell for 40, which came from 26 balls with the help of 2 boundaries and 3 sixes. Lewis remained unbeaten on 55 from just 23 balls, hitting 3 sixes and 6 fours in the process.
Towards the end, Hooda made an 8-ball 13 while Badoni hit 2 sixes to reach 19 not out from only 9 balls as LSG completed a huge win to hand CSK their second consecutive defeat.