Urvil Patel smashed a record-equalling half-century but it was impact player Prashant Veer who steered Chennai Super Kings over the line to a five-wicket win over Lucknow SuperGiants in the IPL on Sunday.
Veer was dropped twice in the 19th over, bowled by Avesh Khan, but struck 18 not out from 12 balls, hitting two successive sixes off Aiden Markram to see Chennai to 208-5 and victory with four balls to spare at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
However, Patel was the star turn in the Chennai innings as he equalled Yashasvi Jaiswal’s record for the fastest half-century in the IPL.
Patel needed just 13 balls to reach his first 50 in the competition, going on to top-score with 65 from 23 balls with eight sixes.
He added 81 for the second wicket with skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad who made 42 from 28 balls.
“I just wanted to bat according to the situation and hit the ball,” said Patel.
“Ruturaj said the wicket was slow and to be ready for it. I tried to maintain a stable base and then hit.”
It was Chennai’s third win in a row – sixth in 11 matches overall – as they climbed to fifth in the table, still in contention for a top-four playoff spot.
For Lucknow, it was an eighth loss in 11 games and they remain bottom of the log.
Put into bat, Lucknow relied made a terrific start, clubbing 91 in the powerplay thanks to opener Josh Inglis.
The Australian hammered a superb 85 off 33 balls to post his first IPL half-century for the SuperGiants.
His fifty, which included four sixes and six fours, came off just 17 balls making it his fastest T20 half-century.
When he fell to Jamie Overton in the tenth over, having taken his boundary count to 10 fours and six sixes, Lucknow were 112-3 and looking at an imposing total.
But Overton then removed Rishabh Pant and Akshat Raghuwanshi either side of Markram being run out to leave Lucknow on 147-6 in the fifteenth over.
Overton finished with 3-36 and was named player of the match.
“It was nice to get a couple of wickets and obviously getting Josh out at that point was crucial,” said the England paceman.
Shahbaz Ahmed made sure the tail wagged with 43 not out off 25 balls but it wasn’t enough to prevent Chennai veering to victory.
Source: Khaleej Times