Rain ultimately had the final say in Lucknow, where MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings had the upper hand against the Super Giants after 19.2 thrilling overs of the first innings. CSK spinners completely dismantled the home team’s lineup, but 23-year-old Ayush Badoni scored a counterattacking fifty before the match was called off at 6:56 p.m. local time.
Due to an afternoon shower, the game started 15 minutes later than scheduled, although the surface greatly aided spin. Kyle Mayers was out for the second time this season by Moeen Ali, while in the sixth over, Manan Vohra and Krunal Pandya were both caught by MaheeshTheekshana off consecutive balls. The greatest wicket came when Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Marcus Stoinis with a delivery that pitched outside the right-hander’s leg stump and turned sharply to strike off, rendering the batter speechless. Moeen managed to hold on to a difficult caught-and-bowled opportunity to dismiss Karan Sharma.
The Super Giants were in trouble at 44 for 5 in the tenth over, but Badoni and Nicholas Pooran kept the innings from falling apart. They collected 59 runs for the sixth wicket, but Pooran only contributed 14, and Badoni took over. In the 19th over, he hit two sixes off Theekshana and another six off Deepak Chahar to reach fifty and give the Super Giants a chance.
Both Super Kings and Super Giants only earned one point each from the match because rain forced the players off the pitch in the 20th over of the first innings and did not let up in time for play to resume. After 10 games, both teams are at 11 points.
The match was crucial because two fast bowlers were making their comeback. Chahar returned with statistics of 0 for 41 in four overs for CSK after missing six games due to a hamstring ailment. Mohsin Khan was selected for the Super Giants XI for the first time this season after recovering from an injury for nearly the whole period since the last IPL; however, bad weather stopped him from bowling.