Live Report - IPL 2023: Chennai Super Kings vs Lucknow Super Giants, Chennai

A game high on entertainment quotient ended with 35,000 boisterous fans celebrating Chennai Super Kings’ and MS Dhoni’s grand homecoming in style.

Despite blasting 217, the highest score of the season so far, the Super Kings were outmuscled in the powerplay. Lucknow Super Giants went one better than the Chepauk record in the IPL to put themselves in a fantastic position at 80 for 1.

But once Moeen Ali gave them the early breakthrough, Dhoni switched back to his trademark ‘spin it to win it’ mantra on a surface where dew, which KL Rahul believed would play a part in the chase, hardly had an effect.

The Super Kings’ spin duo of Moeen and Mitch Santner had magical figures of 5 for 46 off eight overs to turn the game around sensationally. Moeen, who wasn’t called upon to bowl in their tournament opener, finished with 4 for 26; KL Rahul, Kyle Mayers and Marcus Stoinis among his victims.

The Moeen effect covered up for a nightmarish start for the seamers, most notably for Impact Player Tushar Deshpande and Deepak Chahar, who conceded 55 in four wicketless overs between inside the first 10 overs.

But Deshpande redeemed himself with a knockout blow of Nicholas Pooran, who threatened to pull off a coup, with Super Giants needing 62 off 25. That, right there, was the game which Super Kings closed out to eventually win by 12 runs to pocket two points.

With some help from Ben Stokes.

Nicholas Pooran belts a length ball and thinks he's likely to clear long-off, until he sees Stokes lurking there as he leaps to complete the catch.

More importantly, the over, his second, goes for just six along with the wicket. It's a massive over in the context of the game, with Super Giants needing 62 off 24.

Could be the blow that seals it for CSK.

A left-hander to a left-hander is a match-up not quite up Dhoni's alley.

But because the pacers have all proved expensive, and Moeen-Santner have bowled out, he has no option but to go to Jadeja.

And it's not quite helped that Nicholas Pooran has been in great form.

He flat-bats him for a six over extra cover and then follows it by reverse-sweeping a dart for a 97-metre six over the point boundary. It has brought LSG to within 68 runs off victory with 30 balls remaining.

This isn't over yet.

So what if they keep losing wickets? The presence of the Impact Player - Ayush Badoni has been subbed in for Avesh Khan - has given them the luxury of attacking non-stop; not that they had any other option.

And so, even despite being four down, their depth is coming through with Nicholas Pooran and Marcus Stoinis keeping LSG well in the hunt. Ninety off forty-two is well within the realms of possibility with these two around.

Moeen, Santner, Moeen again.

Three slogs, three catches at the ropes.

Mayers picked out Devon Conway at deep midwicket. Deepak Hooda picked out Ben Stokes at wide long-on. KL Rahul finds Ruturaj Gaikwad at deep midwicket.

Hooda and Rahul were both not to the pitch of the ball but went through with the shot. From 79 for 0, LSG have slipped to 82 for 3. All in a matter of two overs.

There's a stand-and-deliver flavour to his batting, like Chris Gayle's, that makes tough shots look ridiculously easy courtesy hand-eye coordination to die for.

And within two games, he's already left his imprint with his robust approach up top along with his ability to bowl seam-ups. This will surely give LSG some healthy selection headaches. How can they fit Quinton de Kock in once he's available from the next game?

Mayers has followed his 38-ball 73 with a half-century off just 21 balls.

"He's not there yet and that includes bowling form. We are working closely with him, but he's making really good progress. We're really happy with what he's done so far and I think he feels pretty positive about the progress he's made."

They've had just the one training session since, and here's Stokes sharing the new ball. But it isn't a particularly happy return with the ball as Kyle Mayers climbs into him.

6, 6 and out.

A carve over third man, a hook shot over deep square. And slice straight to deep point. Chepauk goes berserk. The replays of those sixes, especially the second one, will probably make the highlights reel of the season. And perhaps every Dhoni batting reel this season.

The first two came off short of length deliveries. Off the third, he was slightly late on the shot. But it's contributed nonetheless to CSK's 217 for 7, the highest score of the season so far.

LSG didn't too badly in the last five overs, conceding just 53, but the groundwork laid by Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad has given them that turbocharge. Advantage CSK at the halfway mark.

It could've been a lot more if not for Ravi Bishnoi's efforts.

After being taken apart for two sixes in the over, Bishnoi goes back to his stockball - the googly - and gets Shivam Dube. It's full on leg-stump, Dube can only top-edge the slog towards the shorter boundary, short-third takes a comfortable catch. Stokes joins Moeen as CSK look to regain some impetus that they've lost after the Gaikwad-Conway opening stand.

Courtesy Sampath Bandarupalli

5.6 overs - Chris Lynn & Sunil Narine vs RCB, 2017
6.5 overs - Dwayne Smith & Brendon McCullum vs MI, 2015
7.4 overs - Chris Lynn & Gautam Gambhir vs GL, 2017
7.5 overs - Chris Gayle & Tillakaratne Dilshan vs PWI, 2013
7.6 overs - Ruturaj Gaikwad & Devon Conway vs LSG, 2023

Devon Conway hit Mark Wood for two fours and a six in his opening over, and flat-batted him for a four as he began his next. But hard lengths at pace can be a handful on any surface. Conway looks to pull but ends up getting it high on the bat. It still needs Krunal Pandya's athleticism to make the catch possible. He ran in from the ropes at deep square, and put in a full-length dive forward to complete the stunner. Conway misses a half-century but has done his job. CSK 119/2 in the 11th over.

He got slightly lucky after his half-century when a top-edge off Yash Thakur flew over short fine leg. But he runs out of it in the next over as Ravi Bishnoi strikes off his very first delivery. He was done in the air and by sharp turn as a heave led to a top-edge that Mark Wood pouched superbly at short third. CSK 110/1 in 9.1 overs with Shivam Dube joining Devon Conway in the middle.

23-ball half-century in Ahmedabad.
25-ball half-century in his maiden IPL outing at Chepauk.
Ruturaj Gaikwad continues to impress. He missed out on a century the other night, out on 92. Can he get to three-figures tonight?

LSG's Impact Player in their opening game has already put under the cosh.

Gowtham started with figures of 4-0-23-0 to go with his first-ball six in Lucknow two nights ago. Here, he's already been challenged. The first two were straight down the ground; the third the best of the lot - lofted inside-out over extra cover.

A name that scouts often speak of as an emerging talent, Yash Thakur is a key member of Vidarbha's pace battery.

He has impressed with his death bowling and is coming off a superb Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament, where he picked up 15 wickets in 10 matches and finished with an economy rate of 7.17. He's also quickly emerged as a key pacer in their arsenal, especially with Umesh Yadav often away on national duty.

Thakur, 24, has had multiple IPL stints as a net bowler and was most recently part of the Punjab Kings contingent.Now, he debuts finally and it's a well-deserved one.

KL Rahul calls correctly and wants LSG to chase. The reason: "We just want to know what we are chasing. Dew is a factor in Chennai, so that could help." They've brought in Yash Thakur for Jaydev Unadkat. A right-arm seamer for a left-arm seamer. Rahul confirms this is a "tactical call."

MS Dhoni predictably announces an unchanged XI for CSK. "Important to have a total in mind, and keep assessing as we go along," he says. "Means a lot coming back to Chepauk. We've only played six seasons or so here. Even when we've played, few stands have been locked out. This is the first time we have a full stadium open, happy for the fans, want to give them seven straight home games."

LSG XI: 1 KL Rahul (capt.), 2 Kyle Mayers, 3 Deepak Hooda, 4 Krunal Pandya, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 7 Ayush Badoni, 8 Avesh Khan, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Yash Thakur, 11 Mark Wood.

CSK XI: 1 Devon Conway, 2 Ruturaj Gaikwad, 3 Moeen Ali, 4 Ben Stokes, 5 Ambati Rayudu, 6 Shivam Dube, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 9 Mitchell Santner, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Rajvardhan Hangargekar.

Five years ago, Mark Wood made his IPL debut for CSK. But one disastrous game later, injury struck.

Last year, there was a possibility of a return but he had to miss out due to elbow surgery.

Three nights ago, he made a grand comeback into the IPL after five years for LSG, and picked up a five-for to rattle Delhi Capitals. Everyone went pace is pace, yaar. Expect him to rock up and take the pitch completely out of the equation. He's fully fit and firing. He's LSG's trump card.