It turned out to be a battle between the two heavyweight batting line-ups as the Lucknow Super Giants overpowered the Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in a high-run scoring IPL 2024 match.
The match was dominated by the batters with Marcus Stoinis' blazing century trumping Ruturaj Gaikwad's first hundred as CSK captain.
Matheesha Pathirana once again stood out with his searing pace as he dismissed Devdutt Padikkal with an unplayable yorker.
CSK vs LSG: Best Spells
Matheesha Pathirana
21-year-old Pathirana has been one of the standout bowlers in IPL 2024.
He has been crucial to CSK's hopes this season, delivering some fine performances especially with his lethal yorkers in the end overs.
CSK were in control with the ball right from the start as Pathirana was once again introduced in the second half, to bowl the 11th over. He produced a cracking 151.1kph delivery to clean up the struggling Devdutt Padikkal in his very first over.
Ruturaj Gaikwad's decision to delay Pathirana's third over and instead get Shardul Thakur to bowl the 16th over proved costly. Nicholas Pooran went after Thakur, smashing him for 6, 4, 6 off successive deliveries to get 20 runs from the over.
Pathirana came back to dismiss Pooran after a crucial cameo of 34 from 15 balls.
In a match where both teams had scored in excess of 200, Pathirana's figures stood out as he conceded just 20 runs in three overs, while picking up two wickets.
He suffered at the end, getting hit for three boundaries in his final over but finished with 2/35 -- the only bowler to pick up two wickets in the match.
Deepak Chahar
Chahar gave CSK a great start with the new ball. He struck early with the wicket of Quinton de Kock, who was bowled off an inside edge for a duck and gave away just a single in the first over.
He was hit for a couple of fours in his next over but suprisingly not called back later in the match despite the others going for runs.
Chahar finished with 1/11 in two overs, while the duo of Tushar Deshpande (0/34) and Shardul Thakur (0/42) went for 76 runs in their six overs combined.
Matt Henry
New Zealand pacer Matt Henry had a good outing with the ball in his second match of the season.
He made a bright start with Ajinkya Rahane's wicket in his opening over when he got the CSK opener caught behind for 1, as wicket-keeper K L Rahul took a superb diving catch.
While Mohsin Khan went for runs at the other end, Henry kept things tight as he gave away just nine runs in his first two overs.
Henry showed good control during his three-over spell in the Powerplay, conceding just 20 runs, including six dot balls to restrict CSK to 49/2 in the Powerplay.
When he came back in the 14th over, he gave away just eight runs to finish with good figures of 1/28 in four overs.
CSK vs LSG: Who Bowled The Best Spell? Vote!
Photographs: BCCI
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