Ruturaj Gaikwad and Shivam Dube completely owned the Lucknow Super Giants bowlers on Tuesday to take their workforce to a rating of 210/four in 20 overs. Gaikwad slammed an unbeaten ton whereas Shivam Dube struck a quick-fore 66 as CSK made merry on the MA Chidambaram Stadium. To add to the CSK followers’ pleasure, MS Dhoni got here out to bat too and completed off in fashion by hitting a boundary. Gaikwad, who took over the CSK captaincy from Dhoni this season, stayed unbeaten on 108*.
This is the primary time a CSK captain has struck a century within the IPL. This can also be the very best rating by a CSK captain within the IPL. MS Dhoni’s highest within the IPL is 84*. However, one must take into account that Gaikwad is an opener whereas Dhoni batter within the center order and, therefore, at all times had lesser variety of balls.
A exceptional 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. 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 fairly subdued Power Play (49/2) and the center passage.
The CSK ought to primarily thank Gaikwad, who performed an innings which was a connoisseur’s delight, for that complete after the early departure of Ajinkya Rahane, who was caught fantastically 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 traditional route, timing the ball by means of the gaps for fours.
In truth, his first fifty contained no fours however nonetheless he managed to keep up a strike-rate of above 180 throughout that section.
The fifty, the right-hander’s 17th within the IPL, got here off simply 28 balls. The most spectacular shot that Gaikwad performed on the night time was a slice-cut off pacer Mohsin Khan that beat the purpose fielder for a boundary.
However, his focus was additionally on establishing 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, each Mitchell (11), who was dropped on 4, and Jadeja would rue lacking out on an opportunity to chip in with a far larger knock.
While Gaikwad was the principle contributor in 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 13th over off pacer Marcus Stoinis.
Gaikwad quickly slammed the primary six of his innings within the 45th 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 a 4 and 6 off successive balls to achieve his fifty in 22 balls as CSK plundered 71 runs off the final 5 overs.
With PTI inputs
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