Chennai Super Kings have made a habit of turning apparently lost causes into something manageable at Chepauk, and Sunday’s three-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants felt like another example. Set 204, they got there with a ball to spare – not flawless, often scrappy, but enough to move them to 12 points after 11 matches.
Ruturaj Gaikwad said the shift in mood began well before the chase. As LSG blasted 91 for 1 in the powerplay, Sanju Samson – visiting the dressing-room for a chat, according to Gaikwad – offered a blunt reminder: “If we have it in us, we have to make a comeback here, and try to restrict them as low as possible.”
Josh Inglis had just rattled to a 17-ball half-century by then, and Gaikwad admitted it was hard to see a ceiling. “I think he played some amazing shots, which we actually didn’t have any answer to and you can’t quite plan for it, or you can’t quite set the field for it. I think the way they were playing, it looked like [they would get] 240 or 250. But to keep it down to 200-odd, it was a great effort.”
That “effort” centred on Jamie Overton. The tall quick removed Inglis, caught behind off a leg-side tickle, and bowled Rishabh Pant two balls later – the sort of double strike that changes T20 games in the space of a minute. Overton closed with 3 for 36 and, in typically understated style, explained how: “I think it was just doing what I’ve been doing well,” he said. “Just keeping top of the stumps and trying to make them hit like good balls off the top of the stumps. Nice to get a sort of a strangle from a leg-side one, and then a nice one to get Rishabh out… To get Josh out at that point was crucial.”
Gaikwad’s timing in bringing the seamer back was praised. “I think it was just about getting your bowlers right,” he said. “How you can attack from one end, how you can be defensive from one end, so we thought let’s get our best bowlers for the next three or four overs and see how it goes after that.” The captain also highlighted left-arm wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad, whose two overs for 12 helped slow things once the ball softened, making it “tough for the new batter to come in and play shots.”
If LSG’s innings began like a sprint and finished at a jog, CSK’s was the reverse. Urvil Patel blasted a 13-ball fifty – two sweeps, three lofted drives and a sliced six into the stands – powering the home side to 97 for 1 after six overs. Yet, as soon as he holed out, the pitch’s tacky nature re-emerged. The required rate crept above ten; 30 were still needed off the last 18 balls. Prashant Veer swung a couple over mid-wicket, before Shivam Dube launched consecutive sixes in the final over to close it out.
Gaikwad shrugged at the late drama. “Chasing 200, when you start the innings, you know it will always go to the 18th on the 19th or the 20th over,” he said. “So, yes, we started off really well in the powerplay, but it was a bit tacky for a new batter to just go in and play the shots.”
Three fixtures remain for CSK, and the skipper is determined to keep things straight-forward. “It’s still three games to go. But I think it is just about keeping it simple,” he offered. “Keeping it simple as long as possible. I know it’s easy to say at times, when you are under pressure or under the pump. But that’s a mantra and we are going to stick to it.”
The table suggests they may need at least two more wins to make the play-offs. Chepauk’s surface will, no doubt, continue to set its own little quizzes; on Sunday, Overton and friends had enough of the right answers.
