IPL 2025: Midway into the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) innings, it felt like Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were hit by Murphy's Law. Matheesha Pathirana outdid Ayush Badoni with a short ball and the catch went to third man, placed very fine. Badoni, on 20 then, was in the middle of building a partnership with Rishabh Pant. As the batsman was walking back to the pavilion, he was stopped by the umpires. The officials wanted to check if it was the third ball above shoulder height in the over. Pathirana had erred only by an inch, but Badoni got a reprieve. The free hit was a double whammy.
In the next over, Ravindra Jadeja thought he had Badoni caught plumb in front. The on-field umpire agreed. But the batsman once again survived on review. Ultra Edge indicated a small spike when the ball passed the bottom of the glove.
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Three balls later, when Badoni was stumped by miles (22, 17 balls), the umpires wanted to check if MS Dhoni had collected the ball in front of the stumps. CSK were third time lucky, but Badoni had added 32 runs with Pant for the fourth wicket to give his team the base for a back-end charge.
CSK came to this game on the heels of five defeats on the spin. They had to act and the team management decided to drop Ravichandran Ashwin and Devon Conway. On a red-soil Ekana pitch, fast bowler Jamie Overton came in for Ashwin, while Shaik Rasheed replaced Conway. Rasheed gave a glimpse of his talent on his way to a 19-ball 27 after CSK restricted LSG to 166/7.
The 20-year-old is a proper player, easy on the eye, with leg-side being his go-to area. Going beyond the silverware, the IPL is a breeding ground for young Indian talents and Rasheed could be the new kid on the block if he builds on this.
Earlier, CSK restricted LSG to 42/2 in the Powerplay. Both Khaleel Ahmed and Ansul Kamboj bowled very well with the new ball. Rahul Tripathi’s blinder to dismiss Aiden Markram off Ahmed encapsulated CSK's intent. Kamboj dismissed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran for eight. The young fast bowler pleaded with Dhoni to review after his leg-before shout was turned down by the on-field umpire. He was spot on. For a change, Pooran fell cheaply and that was a big blow for his team.
After missing the last game, Mitchell Marsh (30, 25 balls) returned to the LSG fold today, but a brilliant Jadeja arm-ball castled him. The latter was on top of his game, returning with 2/24 from three overs.
Pant made full use of two dropped catches to score his first half-century of the season (63, 49 balls). Abdul Samad played a cameo (20, 11 balls) at the death.
CSK needed a good start in their chase and a 52-run opening partnership between Rasheed and Rachin Ravindra gave them that. They went at nearly 10 runs per over to reach 59/1 at the end of the Powerplay. After that, one batsman needed to carry on. But as is their won't, wickets began to tumble. Rachin (37, 22 balls), Tripathi, Jadeja and Vijay Shankar departed in quick succession.
Pant's captaincy was superb, the way he rotated his spinners. Ravi Bishnoi found his mojo, claiming 2/18 in his three overs. Digvesh Rathi and Markram ably supported him. In the end, the equation came down to 24 off 12 balls.
Support-wise, CSK were playing a ‘home’ game in Lucknow and Dhoni was rolling back the years. With pride at stake, the captain looked determined to turn things around. An 11-ball 26 not out was worth its weight in gold. He, along with the excellent Shivam Dube (43 not out, 37 balls) beat Murphy's Law, and LSG. CSK won by five wickets with three balls to spare.
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