Moeen Ali was in devastating form on Monday when he single-handedly guided his side, Chennai Super Kings, to a 12-run victory against Lucknow Super Giants. Ali’s devastating bowling spell helped the side led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni their first victory in the latest edition of the IPL.
Batting first, the CSK made 217-7 in 20 overs with Ruturaj Gaikwad making 57 from 31 balls. Devon Conway made 47 from 29 balls.
Lucknow Super Giants almost chased the total but fell short of 12 runs in the end. This was largely due to a spectacular spell by Ali, who picked up four wickets in his quota of four overs by conceding just 26 runs. The English all-rounder was declared Player Of The Match.
Reacting to his performance, Ali said, “They have big hitters. Almost tried to bowl like Test cricket. Tried to spin the ball. The combination was nice (with Santner). The partnership worked well. MS knows what he’s doing. He knows when to bowl players..”
Dhoni said after the match, “All of us were thinking how the wicket would play. I initially thought it would be much slower. But it was a wicket where you could actually score runs. Fast bowling needs to improve. Bowlers Need to bowl according to the conditions. What is important is to be aware as to what the opposition bowlers are doing and going about with their plans. One more thing if they’ll have to bowl no no-balls or wides they’ll have to find a new captain. It will be my second warning and then I’ll be off. Only reason we’ve scored those runs is if the surface is nice.”
LSG skipper KL Rahul said that while his batters performed well, his bowlers could not capitalise on ‘the small momentum.’ “t does take time to learn what lengths to bowl on a surface, but to go for 70-odd in six overs isn’t ideal,” Rahul said after the match.