It was a day that fans of Chennai Super Kings eagerly awaited in IPL 2023: the grand homecoming of M.S. Dhoni & Co to Chepauk after 1427. In front of a packed home crowd wearing yellow, CSK didn’t disappoint as they emerged victorious by 12 runs in a run-fest against Lucknow Super Giants on Monday night.
Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway shared a blistering 110-run opening stand while Ambati Rayudu and captain M.S. Dhoni, along with Moeen Ali and Shivam Dube, propelled CSK to reach 217/7.
In reply, Kyle Mayers had threatened to steal their thunder with a 22-ball 53.
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His efforts meant Lucknow reached 73/0 in five overs. But Moeen and Santner struck as LSG slipped to 82/3 in the eighth over. Moeen, who picked 4-26, and Santner, who returned with 1-21, kept things tight to bring Chennai back into the game.
Nicholas Pooran threatened to drive Lucknow to a late win, but Tushar Deshpande took him out as the visitors ended up at 205/7, with Chennai pocketing vital two points in a high-scoring entertaining game.
Both Gaikwad (57) and Conway (47) played some outstanding shots to smash 79 runs in the Power-play, which became CSK’s highest-ever score in this phase at Chepauk. Conway got off to a flier by slamming Avesh Khan for back-to-back boundaries in the second over.
Gaikwad took over with a superb square drive off Mayers, before pulling Krunal Pandya over mid-on for a brace of boundaries. He then welcomed K Gowtham with two sixes straight down the ground; followed by a beautiful lofted inside-out six over extra cover.
Conway tore into Mark Wood with an uppish drive and pull for a brace of boundaries while Gaikwad gently flicked over deep backward square leg for six to notch up his fifty in 25 balls. Conway slammed two elegant sixes over long-on off Krunal to bring up the century of the opening partnership in eight overs.
Lucknow finally had a breakthrough in the tenth over as Gaikwad went for a drive off Ravi Bishnoi, but the leading edge flew to short third man. In the next over, Conway again went for a pull off Wood but was caught by a diving deep backward square leg.
Dube then boosted Chennai’s innings with three gigantic sixes, including a 102-metres maximum, apart from one four. But when trying to get a big shot off Bishnoi, he gave a top edge to the