Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings were forced to share one point each after their match at Ekana Stadium ended with no result due to incessant rain. Both teams moved up one place each in the IPL standings – LSG to 2nd and CSK to 3rd with 11 points each. LSG (+0.639) has a slightly better net drawdown rate than CSK (+0.329).
As it happened: Lucknow v Chennai
The game started after a 15-minute delay due to a wet outfield and the rain returned in the first innings final to stop proceedings. The rain continued after that, forcing officials to call the game off.
At the time of the rain stoppage, hosts LSG were at 125/7 in 19.2 overs with a mid-order hitter Ayush Badoni playing on 59 steps out, on 33 balls.
Badoni stood tall amid the ruins with an elegant half-century on a mediocre surface before a heavy downpour brought the play to a halt. This is the first match of the 16th edition of the IPL which had to be called off midway due to rain.
When the rain came Badoni, who came on 44 for 5, had put his team in a position of respectability on a very difficult surface.
Badoni broke two fours and four sixes in his 33-ball-59 and his temper on a slow bowler-prone surface was worth its weight in gold as it didn’t at one point look like LSG could crack the 120-point mark.
It was a good draw to win for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the CSK skipper’s decision to go first was vindicated by his bowlers on a surface that is certainly not good enough for an absorbing T20 contest.
Most of the balls were gripping the box and batters had great difficulty crossing the line unlike other boxes like Moeen Ali 2/13 in 4 overs), Ravindra Jadeja (1/11 in 3 overs) and Maheesh Theekshana (2 /37 in 4 overs) kept them on a tight leash and also got wickets at regular intervals.
Their dominance was such that the first six innings came down to 15th when Badoni, coming in at No. 7, swept past Sri Lankan spinner Theekshana in the middle of the wicket and got another maximum in the next to gain momentum. . his team.
Dhoni, who rightly called the track ‘tacky’, pushed Moeen into the attack in the fourth and a flying delivery inviting Kyle Mayers (14) to break the shackles did the trick as he could only confuse a skier with Ruturaj Gaikwad in the deep.
Manan Vohra (10) attempted a nonexistent lap-shot and Krunal Pandya was snapped by Ajinkya Rahane.
The innings ball was certainly thrown by Jadeja, who spun one sharply as Marcus Stoinis stepped forward to find the ball which spun sharply past his outside edge and pegged the off-stump.
Karan Sharma’s 16-ball stay for a laborious 9 was indeed a struggle before he offered a return to Moeen Ali.
Badoni and Nicholas Pooran (20) then added 59 for the sixth wicket.
(With PTI entries)
