Chennai: It was Lucknow Super Giants all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who followed in the footsteps of former Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as he smashed a brilliant century to help the LSG register a stunning six-wicket victory over CSK in a thrilling IPL match on Tuesday.
"MS finishes off in style in Chennai," LSG captioned a post that went viral on social media, referring to Stoinis in a country where the initials ‘MS’ don’t mean anything other than ‘Mahendra Singh’.
The 24-year-old right-handed batsman smashed a blistering 124 off 63 balls, including 13 boundaries and six sixes, to help the Super Giants chase down CSK’s daunting target of 211. This incredible performance also went down in IPL history as the best successful run chase ever seen at Chepauk.
After the match, Stoinis revealed that the LSG had a plan in mind against particular bowlers. The Australian all-rounder also praised wicket-keeper batter Nicholas Pooran, who played a key role in the latter stages of the match when the required rate was increasing at a rapid pace.
"Very special, especially when it's a game like that. We were way behind the game when we were batting so it was very special to pull it off. It was a fresh start, both teams started off at 0. Different conditions here. I think they started off really well and put us under pressure. 170-180 would've been a great total here but they batted really well. Full credit to Stoinis. It was not just power hitting, it was very clever batting. He picked his bowlers and played very well," LSG skipper KL Rahul said after match.
For CSK, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad showed his prowess with the bat from the start but the wickets were tumbling from the other end. CSK were on 101/3 at one stage but a 104-run stand between Ruturaj (108 not out) and Shivam Dube (66) helped CSK cross the 200-run mark.
The Super Giants, who have won 5 out of their last 8 matches, have now moved into fourth position with 10 points from 8 matches. They will next face Rajasthan Royals on April 27 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.
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