Dhoni, spinners lead the way as CSK defeat LSG by five wickets to snap five-match losing streak – Firstpost

MS Dhoni turned back the clock with a vintage performance on Monday as Chennai Super Kings snapped their five-match losing streak in the
Indian Premier League with a much-needed victory over Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 26 off 11 deliveries and shared an unbroken 57-run partnership for the sixth-wicket with Shivam Dube (43 not out off 37 balls) as CSK chased down the 167-run target set by LSG with five wickets and three deliveries to spare.

Earlier in the evening, spinners Noor Ahmad and Ravindra Jadeja bowled excellent spells in the middle overs to restrict LSG to 166/7 after skipper Dhoni opted to field. Noor conceded just 13 runs after bowling his full quota of overs while Jadeja collected 2/24 in three overs.

The match witnessed LSG skipper Rishabh Pant shake off the rust and bring up his first half-century of the 18th IPL season. The wicketkeeper-batter, who had scored just 40 runs in five outings earlier this season, top-scored for his side with a knock of 63 off 49 balls.

Pant, however,
was heavily criticised for his slow approach in the middle overs, with the 27-year-old batting on 38 at run-a-ball as late as the 17th over.

It wasn’t just the CSK spinners who thrived on the surface prepared at Lucknow’s Ekana Cricket Stadium for Monday’s fixture, as LSG’s Ravi Bishnoi (3-0-18-2) and Digvesh Rathi (4-0-23-1) successfully halted CSK’s charge in the middle overs.

The target, however, remained within the Super Kings’ reach despite the slowdown in the middle overs, thanks to a fiery opening stand between Rachin Ravindra (37 off 22) and Shaik Rasheed (27 off 19) – who had been drafted into the XI in place of Devon Conway.

All it took was one solid partnership for CSK to revive their hopes and Dube and Dhoni ensured the team reached home in a canter.

The OG finisher!

A 19-run over penultimate by Shardul Thakur proved too costly for #LSG at the end as #CSK seal the win!

Next up on #IPLonJioStar #PBKSvKKR | TUE, 15th APR, 6:30 PM LIVE on Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 Hindi & JioHotstar! pic.twitter.com/sCTwnnz17p

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 14, 2025

Besides replacing Conway with Rasheed, the Dhoni-led side also chose to bench veteran off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who had collected five wickets so far this season at an average and economy of 39.60 and 9.90.

Dhoni calls for better wickets at home after CSK snap losing run

‘Captain Cool’ was in a much better mood in the post-match presentation ceremony in Lucknow on Monday than he was in the home game against Kolkata Knight Riders last week, in which
CSK suffered one of their most embarrassing defeats ever.

And after accepting the Player of the Match award for his finishing act, which made him the oldest player in IPL history to receive the award, Dhoni emphasised on the need for CSK to play on better wickets at Chepauk, their home ground, besides urging his teammates to play more fearless cricket.

“It’s good to win a game. When you play a tournament like this, you want to win games. Unfortunately the (earlier) matches didn’t go our way for whatever reasons. There can be lots of reasons. It’s good to have a win on our side. Gives confidence to the whole team and helps us improve in areas we want to improve. We all knew that when it doesn’t come your way in cricket, God makes it very tough, and it was a tough game,” Dhoni said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

“If you see the powerplay, whether it was the combination or the conditions, we were struggling with the ball. And then we weren’t able to get the start we wanted as a batting unit. Also the fall of wickets. We keep losing wickets at the wrong time to some extent.

“One of the reasons could be that the Chennai wicket is slightly on the slower side. When we have played away from home, the batting unit has done slightly better. Maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better so that it’ll give the batters confidence to play their shots. You don’t want to play timid cricket,” added the 43-year-old.

Pant, meanwhile, admitted that his team had fallen “10 to 15 runs short” after losing wickets just when they were starting to build some momentum, while adding that he is “slowly getting into my rhythm”.

“We feel that as a team we were 10 to 15 runs short, we kept losing wickets when the momentum was with us. We had to keep stitching in partnerships. The wicket was stopping a bit, but we could have got 15 runs more I feel,” Pant said after suffering his third defeat of the season as LSG captain.

“I am feeling better with each and every game, but sometimes it doesn’t come off. Slowly getting into my rhythm, taking every match at a time.

“As a team we are looking to take the positives from each and every game and we are trying to improve,” he added.

Both teams will get a few days off, with LSG facing Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Saturday in their next fixture. CSK face arch-rivals Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium the following day, aiming to complete a season-double against the fellow five-time champions.