Chennai Super Kings beat Lucknow SuperGiants by five wickets on Sunday, reaching 208-5 with four balls to spare at the MA Chidambaram Stadium after a chase that swung hard in the closing overs. Prashant Veer finished unbeaten on 18 from 12 balls and sealed the result with two successive sixes off Aiden Markram.
The chase was driven by Urvil Patel, who smashed 65 from 23 balls and equalled Yashasvi Jaiswal’s record for the fastest half-century in the IPL, reaching his first 50 in the competition in 13 balls. He hit eight sixes and added 81 for the second wicket with Ruturaj Gaikwad, who made 42 from 28 balls, as Chennai recovered from the pressure of a steep target and moved toward a total that proved just enough.
Lucknow had started with force, putting 91 on the board in the powerplay, and Josh Inglis carried that early charge with 85 off 33 balls. He brought up his first IPL half-century for the SuperGiants off 17 balls, hitting four sixes and six fours, before Jamie Overton removed him in the 10th over with Lucknow on 112-3. Overton later dismissed Rishabh Pant and Akshat Raghuwanshi either side of Aiden Markram being run out, leaving Lucknow 147-6 in the 15th over.
Overton finished with 3-36 and was named player of the match, while Shahbaz Ahmed’s 43 not out off 25 balls gave Chennai late support in the chase. Urvil said afterward that he wanted to bat according to the situation and hit the ball, adding that Gaikwad had warned him the wicket was slow and that he had tried to keep a stable base before attacking.
The result gave Chennai their third win in a row and their sixth win in 11 matches overall, lifting them to fifth in the table and keeping their push for a top-four playoff spot alive in the IPL. Lucknow suffered their eighth loss in 11 games and stayed bottom of the log, a position that leaves them little margin for error from here.
