IPL 2024, LSG vs CSK Turning Point: KL Rahul, Quinton de Kock the heroes as LSG decimate CSK by 8 wickets

New Delhi: Quinton de Kock and skipper KL Rahul stitched an unbelievable 134-run opening wicket stand to power Lucknow Super Giants to a big 8-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2024. Chasing 177, de Kock and Rahul punished the Super Kings bowlers with some exuberant display of batting skills. The CSK bowlers looked completely hapless in their defence of a competitive total.

Although, CSK had a little to cherish about towards the end of the game as they dismissed both Kock (54) and Rahul (82) after the LSG batters notched up half-centuries respectively, but it was all in vain as the damage had been already done. The left over was taken care of majorly by Nicholas Pooran (23 not out) and Marcus Stoinis (8 not out), as they guided the Super Giants to their fourth victory in IPL while CSK suffered their third loss.

What turned the game

A brilliant effort by the LSG bowlers in the first innings to restrict such a powerful batting opponent CSK to less than 180-run score and later on, the chase dominated by the opening duo of de Kock and Rahul were the major factors behind Super Giants’ mammoth win. The pair looked at ease in the chase as they kept punishing the CSK bowlers with some exclusive stroke play and intelligent batting. Rahul opened his arms to a certain extent as he smashed 9 boundaries and 3 maximums in his fantastic knock was calm at the other end as he just hit a single six and 5 fours to reach to his halfp-century.

The Dhoni show at Ekana

Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja came up with a solid unbeaten 57 while Moeen Ali also played a 30-run knock after hard-hitting batters like Rachin Ravindra, Shivam Dube and Sameer Rizvi failed to showcase any talent. MS Dhoni played a sensational cameo of 28 runs in just 9 balls to set the Ekana stadium on fire. The CSK veteran bounced back to his best with some fierce stroke play to leave the entire crowd at the stadium dazzled.

Jadeja slammed five fours and a six to anchor the innings after a top and middle-order batting failure but Ali and Dhoni swung the momentum back with a late charge after the 16th over to take them to a fighting total.

Meanwhile, up the order, Ajinkya Rahane played a good knock of 36 runs to set the base for Chennai to some extent. For Lucknow, Krunal Pandya claimed 2 wickets while the rest of the bowlers too chipped in with a wicket each. Opting to bowl, KL Rahul was spot on with his bowling changes as the pacers put the CSK batters under pressure initially before spinner Krunal tightened the noose in the middle overs.

But Ali’s three sixes off Ravi Bishnoi (1/44) and Mohsin Khan’s 19th over which yielded 15 overs, including four wides, a six and a four and a 19-run 20th over handed the initiative back to CSK. The last four overs yielded 63.

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