Stoinis stuns Chepauk as LSG breaches CSK's fortress

CHENNAI: In a sensational display of batting prowess, Marcus Stoinis emerged as the shining star of the night, hammering an unbeaten 124 off just 63 deliveries to orchestrate LSG's second win against CSK this season here at Chepauk on Tuesday.

The toss proved to be pivotal in determining the outcome of the match, with dew becoming a significant factor during the latter part of the game, troubling the CSK bowlers.

In the first innings, the top-order woes continue for CSK, as they dropped Rachin Ravindra and added Daryl Mitchell back in the squad, but this time in No. 3, in a position where he is familiar. However, he didn’t manage to contribute much as he got out for 11 of 10 balls (4x1).

This is the third match in a row where they tried Ajinkya Rahane as an opener, but he too failed to get going as he was the first one to walk back to the dugout, scoring just one run.

With wickets falling on one end, Ruturaj Gaikwad found an ideal partner in Shivam Dube. The southpaw smacked 66 runs off just 27 balls (4x3, 6x7) and posed a fear to the opponents as both the spinners weren’t used when he was in the crease.

But it didn’t stop him, as he improved a lot on his game against the pacers as well. He hit three sixes off Yash Thakur’s over and smacked two big ones in the 19th over, bowled by Mohsin Khan.

CSK skipper Gaikwad scored his first century as a captain of CSK and helped the team score 210 at the end of 20 overs. He scored 108 runs off 60 balls (4x12, 6x3).

In the second innings, Deepak Chahar managed to knock on the stumps of Quinton de Kock to give CSK an early breakthrough.

And with no partner on the other end to build a longer partnership, Marcus Stoinis solely kept LSG in the hunt by scoring boundaries at regular intervals.

LSG needed 128 runs from the final ten overs, with four overs of Matheesha Pathirana and three overs of Mustafizur Rahman left. But a stellar cameo from Nicholas Pooran, scoring 34 runs off just 15 balls (4x3, 2x6), helped Stoinis build a 70-run partnership alongside him, which was halted by Pathirana in the 17th over.

But in that middle stint, Tushar Deshpande, Shardul Thakur, and even Mustafizur had trouble with dew coming into the picture. The 16th over changed the course of the game as LSG scored 20 runs off that over by Thakur to get the groove moving into the final few overs of the chase.

Even Deepak Hooda’s 17 runs off six balls (4x2, 6x1) in the three overs helped LSG chase a historic 211-run target at Chepauk with three balls and six wickets to spare.