Target of 17 runs in the last 6 balls. A devastating batsman like Stoinis on the wicket. On the other hand, the home turf is resounding with M Chidambaram Chennai Chennai slogans. Mustafiz has a great opportunity to win the team and become a hero. Stoinis silenced the fans in one fell swoop as Tiger hit the pacer’s first ball into the gallery. The next two-ball two-four match was just a formality. No ball again on the third delivery. Stoinis gave Lucknow an incredible win by hitting 4 more free hits.
Lucknow beat Chennai by 8 wickets in their first appearance three days ago. This time in the revenge match against Chip, Chennai got off to a great start with the bat of Adhiak Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dub. In the end, Gaikwad was unbeaten on 108 runs and Dube scored 66 runs.
Chennai has always been a consistent performer at home. All three of their four wins earlier today came at this venue in Chipok. But in the opening, they were not able to benefit in that way. It has not been an exception even today. Rahane got out for 4 personal runs in the first over. However, Gaikwad continued to handle the shock by partnering Daryl Mitchell. However, this New Zealand batsman could not stay at the crease for long, scoring only 11 runs (10 balls) before leaving.
Even though Mitchell-Gaikwad and then Rabindra Jadeja-Gaikwad scored fifty runs, it was the Chennai skipper who made the big contribution. Jadeja returned for just 16 runs (19 balls). Gaikwad’s runs and keeping one end to the fore was not a problem for wickets to fall. Then Shivam Dubey gave him worthy company. This young man was more aggressive than Gaikwad. Batted at a strike rate of over 244. He scored a half-century off just 22 balls. Dubey scored 66 off 27 balls with 3 fours and 7 sixes before being dismissed in the last over.
On the other hand, the Chennai captain was unbeaten in the end. He brought up his personal century off 56 balls. At the same time, Gaikwad also set the example of a century as the second youngest captain in IPL. Ruturaj Gaikwad ended up unbeaten on 108 runs off 60 balls with 12 fours and 3 sixes. Mahendra Singh Dhoni comes to the crease and gets only 1 ball, he hits the final ball of the innings for a boundary. Matt Henry, Mohsin Khan and Yash Thakur took one wicket each for Lucknow.
Chasing a target of 211 runs at Chennai home ground, Pathirana and Mustafiz, two pacers of the host team, were very successful at Chipak. The win was very difficult for Lucknow. In such an equation, Lucknow had a disappointing start.
Quinton de Kock returns for no run. Mustafiz did not allow captain KL Rahul to stay at the crease for long. He scored 16 runs off 14 balls. After that, Stoinis took the lead of the innings. He took the sinking boat of Lucknow to the shore practically single-handedly. He also scored an impeccable century. He was accompanied by Nicholas Pooran and Deepak Hooda. Puran scored 34 runs off just 15 balls. And Hooda played a stormy innings of 17 runs.
But none of the fightback would have mattered if Stoinis had not managed a nerve-wracking last over to wrest victory from Chennai’s hands. This Australian put the last nail in the coffin of Chennai with 3 balls of Mustafiz in the target of 17 runs in the last over. Mustafiz had to be satisfied with one wicket at the cost of 51 runs in 3.3 overs. Mathisha Pathirana also managed three fours in the 19th over of the innings despite a good start like Fizz. He picked up 2 wickets at the cost of 35 runs in 4 overs.
