Lucknow: Rain played a spoilsport as the IPL 2023 match between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has officially been called off with 19.2 overs bowled in the first innings, at the Ekana Stadium here on Wednesday.
As a result of the abandonment of the play, both the teams will split points and CSK move up to second. Earlier, the toss was delayed for 30 minutes due to a slight drizzle and the game began at 3:35 pm.
After winning the toss, CSK opted to bowl first and kept LSG batters at bay with the scintillating bowling efforts before Ayush Badoni’s unbeaten 59 off 22 injected momentum in the slog overs as Lucknow scored 125/7 in 19.2 overs.
Putting into bat first, LSG had a dismal start as CSK spinners ripped through Lucknow’s top order and the hosts mustered 31 runs in the Powerplay for the loss of three wickets.
Moeen Ali gave CSK the first breakthrough in the fourth over to dismiss Kyle Mayers, who looked to go big down the ground, but the ball went high up and Ruturaj Gaikwad ran in from long off to seal the deal.
Maheesha Theekshana’s double strike in the sixth over reduced LSG to 27/3. He first cleaned up Manan Vohra and followed that up with a wicket of skipper Krunal Pandya.
Seasoned spinner Ravindra Jadeja joined the party to pile further miseries as he bowled Marcus Stoinis and LSG slumped further to 34 for 4 in seven overs.
Moeen struck again in the 10th over to get rid of Karan Sharma. The batter charged down the wicket and looked to hit straight over the bowler’s head. But Moeen held out his hands to complete a caught and bowled.
Then, Ayush Badoni got down on one knee and slogged it with the turn over the mid-wicket fence for a maximum, collecting 11 off the 15th over.
CSK bowlers continued to be on top in the game as they kept the opposition batters dancing to their tunes. LSG scored 42 runs in 7-15 overs for the loss of two wickets.
Badoni and Nicholas steadied the ship and stitched the crucial 59-run partnership off 48 balls. But Matheesha Pathirana was quick to break the partnership as he got rid of Pooran in the 18th over.
The next over, Badoni took Chahar to the cleaner as he lined up 4,6,6, taking 20 runs off the over. In the process, he completed his Fifty off just 30 balls. The youngsters took LSG to 125/6 from 62/5.
Pathirana struck again in the final over and dismissed Krishnappa Gowtham on the second ball of the over before rain disrupted the game and later the match was officially called off.
Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants 125/7 in 19.2 overs (Ayush Badoni 59 off 33; Moeen Ali 2/13, Ravindra Jadeja 1/11) against Chennai Super Kings
(IANS)
