Marcus Stoinis scored a vibrant unbeaten hundred, a perfect antithesis to Ruturaj Gaikwad's stylish century to guide Lucknow Super Giants to a stunning six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in their IPL match on Tuesday. Stoinis (124, 63b, 13×4, 6×6) helped the Super Giants to the highest chase – 211 – in the Chepauk in IPL to finish at 213 for four. Gaikwad (108, 60b, 12×4, 3×6) and Shivam Dube (66, 27b, 3×4, 7×6) added 104 runs for the fourth wicket stand to take the Super Kings to a competitive 210 for four. LSG also scored a rare back-to-back home and away win over Chennai as they had won the match at the Ekana Stadium a few days ago.
Stoinis' innings was in stark contrast to Gaikwad's silky batting.
The Australian's 6ft 2in frame is a storehouse of strength and he made no effort to hide it, hitting a couple of fours and sixes, and none was more special than his maximum off-pacer Mustafizur Rahman, who previously played LSG- skipper KL Rahul had consumed cheaply.
Rahman delivered an off-cutter slightly fuller to the off-stump from across the wicket, but Stoinis produced a physics-defying straight crunch over the bowlers' heads for a six.
At the other end, Pooran was in overdrive from ball one, partly because of the straight-line 55-run stand between Stoinis and a struggling Devdutt Padikkal (13, 19b), whose misery ended when Pathirana produced a 151 kmph scorcher to to uproot the batter. leg stump.
It required Pooran, who added 70 along with Stoinis, did not have the luxury of taking 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 by robbing 15 runs from the 19th over which was skipped by the Lankan.
Stoinis needed 17 runs from Rahman's final overbow and did so with three balls to spare, quickly crushing Bangladesh's left arm for 6, 4, 4 (1NB) and 4.
Earlier, Gaikwad and Dube added steam to the Super Kings innings after a rather subdued Power Play (49/2) and the middle passage.
The CSK should first and foremost thank Gaikwad, who played an innings that pleased the connoisseur, for that total after the early departure of Ajinkya Rahane, who was superbly caught by stump KL Rahul off Matt Henry.
Batting in this version of the IPL was all about scorching the ball far and wide, but Gaikwad took a classic route and timing the ball through the gaps for fours.
In fact, his first fifty did not contain a four, yet he still managed to maintain a strike rate above 180 at that stage.
The fifty came from just 28 balls. The most spectacular shot Gaikwad played that night was a sliced pacer Mohsin Khan who beat the point fielder for a boundary.
However, his focus was also on building useful alliances with his teammates as 45 runs were scored with Daryl Mitchell and 52 alongside Ravindra Jadeja (17).
However, both Mitchell (11), who was dropped at four, and Jadeja would miss the chance to barge in with a much bigger knock.
Although Gaikwad was the key contributor to those partnerships, the pressure was somewhat off his shoulders when Dube arrived at the crease.
The left-hander played some powerful hits all over the field and, unsurprisingly, picked up CSK's first six of the innings in the 13th over 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 slipped seamlessly into his six-hitting avatar and pacer Yash Thakur bore the brunt as the southpaw hit him for three consecutive sixes.
Gaikwad, who reached 99 with a six off Thakur through extra cover, reached his second IPL hundred with a four in the next ball from the same bowler as he made 16 runs in the 18th over.
Gaikwad and Dube brought up 100 from their partnership in just 46 balls.
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