Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul celebrated aggressively in the dressing room after his team's six-wicket win over the defending champions Chennai Super Kings at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday, April 23.
With a target of 211 set by Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants chased it down with three balls in the final over of the match. Marcus Stoinis emerged as the star performer of the match as he played a scintillating unbeaten knock of 124 off 63 at a strike rate of 196.83. Stoinis' match-winning knock overshadowed Ruturaj's Gaikwad unbeaten 108 off 60 balls which helped CSK post a total of 210/4 on the board.
Apart from Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran (34) and Deepak Hooda (17) too contributed significantly to LSG's run-chase.
When LSG required 17 runs off six balls to win the match, Marcus Stoinis hit 18 runs off Mustafizur Rahman to pull off the chase. After Stoinis hit a winning four, the camera was panned towards the LSG dressing room, where skipper KL Rahul was seen celebrating the team's victory passionately. It was a rare sight for the fans as Rahul is often known for his calm and composed even in the team's victory.
Chasing a hefty target of 211, Lucknow Super Giants lost an early wicket in opener Quinton de Kock for a duck, bowled out by Deepak Chahar. Then, Mustafizur Rahman ended KL Rahul's stay at the crease as he was dismissed for 16 at 33/2. Devdutt Padikkal's disappointing outing continued as he was bowled out for 13 by Matheesha Pathirana at 88/3.
Thereafter, Marcus Stoinis was joined by Nicholas Pooran in the middle and the pair formed a crucial 70-run partnership until the latter was dismissed by Pathirana. After Pooran's dismissal, Stonis and Deepak Hooda stitched an unbeaten 54-run partnership for the fifth wicket to help LSG achieve the target in the final over.
