The already-eliminated Lucknow Super Giants defeated the Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets thanks to Mitchell Marsh’s incredible 38-ball 90 in an IPL encounter in Lucknow on Friday.
Chasing 188, Marsh and his Australian partner Josh Inglis (36, 31b) combined for 135 runs for the first wicket, making a mockery of both the ground and some of CSK’s listless bowling.
Marsh smashed 7 sixes and 9 fours in his blitzkrieg knock but sadly this all-round performance by LSG came too late in the tournament.
CSK’s chances of making the playoffs have been severely damaged by this loss. They are still alive, but the equation is now pretty simple: they need to defeat Gujarat Titans and Sunrisers Hyderabad in both of their remaining games.
Earlier, CSK recovered through Kartik Sharma’s 71 to post 187/5 after their top-order faltered against the hard length approach of the LSG spinners.
After 7.2 overs, CSK were 52/3 before Kartik and Dewald Brevis (25) added 70 runs for the fourth wicket.
Kartik dislikes deliveries that lift to his chin, but he persevered and overcame the slight chink. The right-hander began this evening by unleashing his arms on spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, scorching him for two sixes and two consecutive fours.
His specialty is hitting sluggish bowlers. At that point, he had an 84 strike rate against the LSG pacers and 140 runs against Ahmed, the only spinner.
However, the 20-year-old soon discovered a method to score against pacers as well. He attacked Prince Yadav, hitting him for two straight sixes. On the other end, Brevis supported him well by hitting sixes off Ahmed and Akash Singh.
Kartik quickly reached his fifty in style, hitting Mohammed Shami for six to do so in 35 balls. However, a fast bouncer caught Brevis off guard, and his pull ended up in Akash’s hands, giving the seasoned India pacer a small consolation.
Ironically, Kartik did not last long either, as he was lifted directly to Aiden Markram at long on after falling to spinner Ahmed. By then, he had accounted for 42 deliveries. Akash (3/26), a left-arm pacer, put CSK in a bind before Kartik displayed his encouraging maturity.
Akash dismissed Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson and Urvil Patel by skillfully using the hard length.
Unlike his teammate Mayank Yadav, who frequently reached speeds of over 140 kmph, Akash does not have a lightning-fast pace. However, Akash, who bowled four consecutive overs, relied on an excellent line that prevented CSK’s top-order hitters from having enough room to execute their huge smashes.
Samson’s departure demonstrated this, as he attempted to remove an above-waist ball from Akash but was unable to swing his arms freely. Mukul Choudhary made a soft catch close to the square leg ropes to end the shot.
However, Kartik and big-hitting Shivam Dube (32, 16b) were CSK’s timely heroes. Dube’s powerful shots took 23 runs off Prince’s last over.
