NEW DELHI: Sensational
Marcus Stoinis
pulled off one of the best batting performances of his career, firing a maiden Indian Premier League ton as Lucknow Super Giants stunned Chennai Super Kings by six wickets at the
Chepauk
on Tuesday.
The Australian all-rounder smashed an unbelievable unbeaten 63-ball 124 as Lucknow pulled off a double over CSK this IPL season.
It was a second win for LSG over CSK in just 5 days.
After pulling off an eight-wicket win over CSK at the Ekana last week, LSG did it once again, this time, breaching the fortress Chepauk, riding on a jaw-dropping ton in chase of a tough 211.
The win was Lucknow's fifth of the season while Chennai suffered their fourth defeat in 8 games. The win was also Lucknow's first ever at the Chepauk.
Stoinis made a bustling unbeaten hundred, a perfect anti-thesis to Ruturaj Gaikwad's classy century as LSG made the highest successful 200-plus run-chase at the venue.
Gaikwad (108, 60b, 12x4, 3x6) and Shivam Dube (66, 27b, 3x4, 7x6) added 104 runs for the fourth-wicket stand to power the Super Kings to a competitive 210 for four.
As It Happened
Stoinis' innings was in direct contrast to the silken smooth knock of Gaikwad.
The Australian's 6'1 inch frame is a storehouse of power and he made no effort to hide it too, crunching some fours and sixes, and nothing was more special than his maximum off pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who had earlier consumed LSG skipper KL Rahul cheaply.
Rahman pitched an off-cutter slightly fuller on the off-stump from over the wicket, but
Stoinis
produced a physics-defying straight crunch over the bowlers' head for a six.
At the other end, Pooran was on overdrive from ball one, partly because of the linear 55-run stand between Stoinis and a struggling Devdutt Padikkal (13, 19b), whose misery was ended when Pathirana produced a 151 kmph scorcher to uproot the batter's leg stump.
It mandated that Pooran, who added 70 with Stoinis, did not have the luxury of taking his time to settle in, but he was up to the task and smoked Shardul Thakur for 20 runs in the 16th over including two sixes and a four.
Pooran's dismissal by pacer Matheesha Pathirana left the task of taking LSG home to Stoinis, who reduced the equation robbing 15 runs off the 19th over bowled by the Lankan.
Stoinis needed to take 17 runs off the last over bowled by Rahman and did the job with three balls to spare, smashing the Bangladesh left-arm quick for 6, 4, 4 (+1NB) and 4.
Earlier, Gaikwad and Dube gave steam to Super Kings (213 for four) innings after a rather subdued Power Play (49/2) and the middle passage.
The CSK should primarily thank Gaikwad, who played an innings which was a connoisseur's delight, for that total after the early departure of Ajinkya Rahane, who was caught superbly by stumper KL Rahul off Matt Henry.
The batting in this iteration of the IPL has been all about scorching the ball far and wide but Gaikwad took a classic route, timing the ball through the gaps for fours.
In fact, his first fifty contained no fours but still he managed to maintain a strike-rate of above 180 during that phase.
The fifty came off just 28 balls. The most spectacular shot that Gaikwad played on the night was a slice-cut off pacer Mohsin Khan that beat the point fielder for a boundary.
However, his focus was also on constructing useful alliances with his teammates as 45 runs were made with Daryl Mitchell and 52 were made alongside Ravindra Jadeja (17).
However, both Mitchell (11), who was dropped on four, and Jadeja would rue missing out on a chance to chip in with a far bigger knock.
While Gaikwad was the main contributor in those partnerships, the pressure was slightly lifted off his shoulders once Dube arrived at the crease.
The left-hander played some powerful hits around the field and, not so surprisingly, fetched CSK's first six of the innings in the 13th over off Stoinis.
Gaikwad soon slammed the first six of his innings in the 45th ball he faced –pulling Stoinis' half-tracker over mid-wicket.
However, Dube seamlessly slipped into his six-hitting avatar and pacer Yash Thakur bore the brunt as the left-hander smashed him for three successive sixes.
Gaikwad, who reached 99 with a six off Thakur over extra cover, reached his second IPL hundred with a four in the next ball off the same bowler as he made 16 runs in the 18th over.
Gaikwad and Dube brought up 100 of their partnership in just 46 balls.
(With inputs from PTI)
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