The 45th match of IPL 2023, played between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium, was called off with rain playing spoilsport. It also happened to be the first match of the season to not yield a winner, as the two teams settled for a point each.
Chennai, who were coming into this match on the back of consecutive defeats, had a decent start as the Lucknow batters struggled to get going on what is a bowling-friend deck. The first breakthrough came in the fourth over, with Kyle Mayers losing his wicket to Moeen Ali after scoring 14 runs.
Replacing his injured skipper, KL Rahul, Manan Vohra also could not make a significant contribution towards his team’s cause, as he was batting on his only 10 runs when Sri Lankan spinner, Maheesh Theekshana dismantled his stumps in the last over of the powerplay.
The offie followed it up with another brilliant delivery, this time causing the downfall of Krunal Pandya, as Lucknow’s interim skipper had to depart for a golden duck. The procession of wickets continued in the next over, with Ravindra Jadeja outfoxing Marcus Stoinis with spin.
Playing his first match of the season, and only the second in his IPL career, all-rounder Karan Sharma was provided with an opportunity to make a case for his continuous presence in the side, as he was sent in to bat at number three. The 24-year-old, however, was not particularly successful, scoring just 9 runs before becoming Moeen Ali’s second victim of the day.
Ayush Badoni’s Half-Century Took Lucknow to a Competitive Total
The next four overs saw Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran halting the falling of wickets like nine pins, albeit, their scoring rates were not impressive. With only six overs to spare, Lucknow’s score read 62/5, as it seemed that Chennai might be able to restrict the hosts to a double-digit score.
What transpired next, however, was incredible batting from Badoni. The 23-year-old from Delhi took on the Lankan pair of Theekshana and Matheesha Pathirana, with the next four overs yielding 43 runs.
Whilst Pooran was dismissed amid the carnage, Badoni applied icing on the cake by scoring 20 runs off the penultimate over, which was bowled by Deepak Chahar.
With Lucknow failing to chase down 127 runs in the last fixture at Ekana Cricket Stadium, the game was poised to be another enthralling contest hanging perfectly in the balance, albeit rain played spoilsport.
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