Lucknow Super Giants secured their fourth win of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season on Friday (19 April), beating Chennai Super Kings by 8 wickets. Captain KL Rahul led by example in a chase of 177 runs, albeit they would have had to chase a much lesser target, had it not been for MS Dhoni’s cameo.
The 42-year-old, who was coming into this match on the back of a match-winning cameo of 4-ball 20 against Mumbai Indians, was at his best yet again, scoring 28 runs in only 9 deliveries. Courtesy of his knock, Chennai scored 34 runs in the last couple of overs.
Talking about Dhoni’s knock, Rahul stated the intimidation factor got the better of his bowlers.
At the halfway stage, I would have been happy with 160. I felt the wicket was slow, there was a bit of grip. 160-165 would have been ideal. But MSD walked in and the bowlers felt intimidated. They were under pressure, the crowd was really loud. They got 15-20 runs extra.KL Rahul
Although 176 was a competitive total on what seemed to be a sluggish wicket at the BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow made light work of it, courtesy of a 134-run opening stand between Rahul and Quinton de Kock, which also happens to be the highest partnership in an IPL game on this venue. Speaking about his approach with the bat, Rahul said:
I felt that if we bat well, we could chase it down. I have been trying to assess the situation and today it came off. I knew Chennai’s spinners would try to put brakes on us. We tried to get to a good start. I tried to take them down, luckily it came off. When your partnership goes on, you can take a few more chances. Quinton batted well, made life easy for both of us.KL Rahul
We Were Playing in Front of a Mini Chennai Crowd: KL Rahul
As is the case usually in matches involving the Chennai Super Kings, a large section of the Lucknow crowd had turned up in yellow, with placards for Dhoni. Given that Lucknow will now travel to Chennai for a match against CSK at the Chepauk on 23 April, Rahul feels it was good to get acclimatised to the Chennai support.
I am glad that it happened, I don't think the crowd in Chennai will roar for us. We were playing in front of a mini Chennai crowd. I told the boys in the huddle to get used to the crowd cheering for CSK because we would get it again in a few days. Looking forward to playing CSK in a couple of days.KL Rahul
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)