A outstanding unbeaten hundred by captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube’s ruthless fifty shaped the pillars of Chennai Super Kings’ aggressive 210 for 4 towards Lucknow Super Giants right here on Tuesday. Gaikwad (108, 60b, 12×4, 3×6) and Dube (66, 27b, 3×4, 7×6) added 104 runs for an entertaining fourth-wicket stand that gave steam to Super Kings innings after a quite subdued Power Play (49/2) and the center passage.
For the primary time in IPL historical past, a CSK captain has scored a century. It’s additionally the very best particular person rating by a CSK captain within the IPL. While MS Dhoni’s highest rating within the IPL stands at 84*, it is value noting that Gaikwad opens the innings, giving him extra alternatives to face deliveries in comparison with Dhoni, who bats within the center order.
The CSK ought to primarily thank Gaikwad, who performed an innings that was a connoisseur’s delight, for that whole after the early departure of Ajinkya Rahane, who was caught beautifully by stumper KL Rahul off Matt Henry. The batting on this iteration of the IPL has been all about scorching the ball far and vast however Gaikwad took a basic route, timing the ball by means of the gaps for fours.
In truth, his first fifty contained no fours however nonetheless, he managed to take care of a strike-rate of above 180 throughout that section. The fifty, the right-hander’s seventeenth within the IPL, got here off simply 28 balls. Gaikwad’s most spectacular shot on the evening was a slice-cut off pacer Mohsin Khan that beat the purpose fielder for a boundary. However, his focus was additionally on developing helpful alliances together with his teammates as 45 runs had been made with Daryl Mitchell, who changed an out of contact Rachin Ravindra, and 52 had been made alongside Ravindra Jadeja (17).
However, Mitchell (11), who was dropped on 4 and Jadeja would rue lacking out on an opportunity to chip in with a far greater knock. While Gaikwad was the primary contributor to these partnerships, the stress was barely lifted off Gaikwad’s shoulders as soon as Dube arrived on the crease. The left-hander performed some highly effective hits across the discipline and, not so surprisingly, fetched CSK’s first six of the innings within the thirteenth over off pacer Marcus Stoinis. Gaikwad slammed the primary six of his innings within the forty fifth ball he confronted –pulling Stoinis’ half-tracker over mid-wicket.
However, Dube seamlessly slipped into his six-hitting avatar and pacer Yash Thakur bore the brunt because the left-hander smashed him for 3 successive sixes. Gaikwad, who reached 99 with a six off Thakur over additional cowl, reached his second IPL hundred with a 4 within the subsequent ball off the identical bowler as he made 16 runs within the 18th over. Gaikwad and Dube introduced up 100 of their partnership in simply 46 balls. Dube hammered Mohsin for 4 and 6 off successive balls to succeed in his fifty in 22 balls as CSK plundered 71 runs off the final 5 overs.
