Ruturaj Gaikwad-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) took on KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in match 34 of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) on Friday, April 19 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal . Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.
Lucknow Super Giants won the toss and opted to bowl first in the match. They brought in Matt Henry in place of Shamar Joseph, who struggled on his debut, while Chennai Super Kings brought back Deepak Chahar and Moeen Ali for Daryl Mitchell and Shardul Thakur.
Batting first, CSK scored 176/6 on the board, thanks to the heroics of Ravindra Jadeja and MS Dhoni, as well as decent performances from Ajinkya Rahane and Moeen Ali. Jadeja, Rahane and Moeen scored 57, 36 and 30 runs before MS Dhoni played a stupendous cameo of 28 runs off 9 deliveries.
Defending the total, the CSK players looked completely out of form and allowed LSG to post 89 runs in the first 10 overs. After Quinton de Kock (54) and KL Rahul (82) got out, Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis led LSG to an 8-wicket win over CSK.
Speaking after the match, CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said they finished well with the bat and praised MS Dhoni but claimed they were 10-15 runs short. Ruturaj Gaikwad explained:
“We finished well with the bat, we couldn’t have asked for more with the situation we were in. After the powerplay, we couldn’t take advantage of the start we had and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. I would say we were 10-15 runs short A little difficult with a total like that, with the impact sub-rule you need 10-15 or even 20 extra runs. Pitches like these seem slow to start, but with the dew improving, 190 would have been a good score.”
Ruturaj Gaikwad added that they need to improve their power bowling and mentioned that they will be well prepared next time they face LSG at home.
“One area we would like to improve is wicket-taking in the powerplay. That will put pressure on the opponent. We need to work on it. It’s good to play against them again (next game at Chepauk). We will come in with a good job done now that we have three games at home.”
Talking about the position of Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League 2024 standings, they were at the third position in the table with 8 points before the match against LSG. After the match, they have retained their position.
Results of previous 5 matches of Chennai Super Kings in Indian Premier League 2024
In their previous 5 matches, Chennai Super Kings had good performances as they emerged victorious in three matches and lost two.
On 14 April 2024, CSK won the match by 20 runs against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI). On April 8, 2024, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) crushed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 7 wickets with 14 balls remaining.
Prior to the above wins, Chennai Super Kings suffered two defeats against Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on 5 April by 6 wickets and against Rishabh Pant-led Delhi Capitals (DC) on 31 March. for 20 races. Meanwhile, they registered a crushing victory over the Gujarat Titans (GT) on March 26 by 63 runs.