In today’s match between Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants at M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, CSK after winning the toss, asked LSG to bat first. Despite being a bowling- friendly pitch, Lucknow posted 203 runs in 20 overs.
The target looked tough for the hosts, but Urvil’s joint-fastest IPL half-century guided Chennai to a comfortable chase. With this victory, CSK moved upwards in the points table while also keeping the playoff hopes alive.
Lucknow’s phenomenal start with the runs
Asked to bat first, the visitors had a good start. In 6 overs they managed to score 91 runs with loss of only 1 wicket. After the sixth over, the game slowly started to shift towards Chennai Super Kings. Noor’s economical spell of 1/24 in 4 overs and Overton’s wicket taking deliveries and finishing with 3/36 in 4 overs restricted the score.
Projected score looked above 300 in 20 overs at the end of the sixth over but the hosts caught hold of the visitors in mid overs and they fell short of 100 runs finishing with 203 for 8 wickets in 20 overs. Josh Inglis top scored for LSG with 85 off 33 balls.
Urvil Patel Scores joint-fastest fifty in IPL
Although CSK managed to restrict Lucknow below the projected total, the target still looked huge on a pitch favouring bowlers.
Both openers, Sanju Samson and Ruturaj Gaikwad, started aggressively. They attacked from the beginning and looked determined to put pressure back on the bowlers. However, the breakthrough came after the third over when Samson fell for 28 runs to Digvesh Rathi.
With the regular match-winner back in the pavilion, pressure started building on CSK. That is when an unexpected hero emerged. Uncapped batter Urvil Patel walked in and completely changed the momentum of the game.
After taking a single off his first ball, Patel launched an attack on Avesh Khan in the fourth over, smashing three consecutive sixes and shifting the pressure back onto Lucknow. Riding on that momentum, he brought up the joint-fastest half-century in IPL history in just 13 balls, equalling the record set by Yashasvi Jaiswal for Rajasthan Royals against Kolkata Knight Riders in 2023.
Patel eventually scored 65 off 23 balls before getting out, but by then he had already given massive momentum to the chase. The remaining batters handled the finish calmly as CSK chased the target down in the final over with four balls to spare.
Urvil Patel’s heroic innings not only saved the game for Chennai but also kept their playoff hopes alive, pushing the team from sixth to fifth position on the points table with 12 points from 11 games.
