On Monday, April 14, the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) squared off in Match 30 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. Given the chance of dew later in the evening, CSK chose to bowl first after winning the toss.
CSK replaced Devon Conway and Ravichandran Ashwin with Shaik Rasheed and Jamie Overton, making a few other changes to their starting lineup. However, Mitchell Marsh was part of LSG’s starting lineup.
Talking points
1. Tight bowling from Ravindra Jadeja and Noor Ahmad
The two spinners bowled tight lines and lengths, effectively keeping the LSG batters in check. The left-arm orthodox spinner delivered a tidy three-over spell, claiming two crucial wickets – Mitchell Marsh and Ayush Badoni’s.
Meanwhile, Afghan spinner Noor Ahmad was exceptional with his control and precision. He bowled his full quota of four overs, conceding just 13 runs at an impressive economy rate of 3.25.
2. Rishabh Pant back in the runs with a half-century
LSG skipper Rishabh Pant has not been in the best of forms in the IPL 2025 so far. However, against CSK, he played a composed and mature innings, anchoring the side till the end. The left-handed batter scored a well-crafted 63 off 49 balls, which included four boundaries and four sixes.
3. Great powerplay start from Ravindra and Rasheed
Shaik Rasheed, who replaced Devon Conway in the playing XI, made an immediate impact. The right-handed batter played a fluent knock, scoring 27 runs off 19 balls, laced with six boundaries.
At the other end, Rachin Ravindra played a steady innings, keeping the run rate in check. He scored a valuable 37 off 22 deliveries, including five boundaries.
4. Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni form a match-winning partnership
Left-hander Shivam Dube and veteran batter MS Dhoni stitched together a sensible partnership for the sixth wicket, adding 57 runs off just 28 balls. Their calm and composed stand guided CSK past the finishing line, securing a much-needed victory after five consecutive losses.
5. Dhoni the finisher arises
MS Dhoni walked in at No. 7 after the dismissal of Vijay Shankar and immediately showcased his intent. He capitalized on loose deliveries, finding the boundary with ease. Dhoni played a fiery cameo, scoring 26* runs off just 11 balls, including four boundaries and one six, at a staggering strike rate of 236.36. His impactful knock played a crucial role as CSK defeated LSG, bringing an end to their five-match losing streak.
Who Said What?
MS Dhoni, CSK (Winning Captain) and Player of the Match said,
It’s good to win a game. When you play a tournament like this, you want to win games. Unfortunately the [earlier] matches didn’t go our way for whatever reasons. There can be lots of reasons. It’s good to have a win on our side. Gives confidence to the whole team and helps us improve in areas we want to improve. We all knew that when it doesn’t come your way in cricket, God makes it very tough, and it was a tough game. If you see the powerplay, whether it was the combination or the conditions, we were struggling with the ball.
And then we weren’t able to get the start we wanted as a batting unit. Also the fall of wickets. We keep losing wickets at the wrong time to some extent. One of the reasons could be that the Chennai wicket is slightly on the slower side. When we have played away from home, the batting unit has done slightly better. Maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better so that it’ll give the batters confidence to play their shots. You don’t want to play timid cricket.
Rishabh Pant, LSG (Losing Captain) said,
We feel that as a team we were 10 to 15 runs short, we kept losing wickets when the momentum was with us. We had to keep stitching in partnerships. The wicket was stopping a bit, but we could have got 15 runs more I feel. I am feeling better with each and every game, but sometimes it doesn’t come off. Slowly getting into my rhythm, taking every match at a time.
We discussed with a lot of players, but we couldn’t take him (Bishnoi) deeper, that (bowling his last over) didn’t happen today. Bowling in the powerplay has been a concern for us, but we can pull things back. As a team we are looking to take the positives from each and every game and we are trying to improve.
India
