LSG beat CSK by seven wickets
Mitchell Marsh's 38-ball 90 was a stunning rhapsody of power, carrying an already-eliminated Lucknow Super Giants to a seven-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in an IPL match here on Friday.
Once the Super Kings posted a healthy 187 for five, which was built around Kartik Sharma's prudent 71, the Super Giants' task was cut out on a slightly two-paced track.
But Marsh, who along with his Australia teammate Josh Inglis (36, 31b) added 135 runs for the opening wicket to make a mockery of the pitch and even more so of some listless bowling by CSK.
Chennai stayed on 12 points from as many games, and now they need to win both their remaining matches and some other results to go their way to have a chance to enter the play-offs.
There was some assistance to exploit on the deck, particularly if you dug the ball in, but the Chennai bowlers were more keen to discover from non-existent swing while pitching the ball up.
On other occasions, the attempted snorters turned out to be pathetic half-trackers, but Marsh was not complaining.
The 34-year-old gorged on the offerings in his inimitable style.
Pacer Anshul Kamboj felt the brute strength of 'Bison' while getting pasted for four sixes in a row with a four to boot in the fifth over the chase. The over yielded 28 runs.
The LSG ended the Power Play with an impressive 86 without loss and Marsh continued to drive his side.
Pacer Spencer Johnson was his next target, hitting him for two fours and a six as the runs flowed in thick and fast.
Marsh reached his fifty off just 21 balls, and reaching a landmark only fuelled his desire to score even quicker.
But the smooth-sailing alliance was broken when Inglis skied Mukesh Choudhary to Urvil.
Marsh, who looked set for a second hundred of the season, departed in an unfortunate manner as Nicholas Pooran's straight drive crashed onto stumps at non-striker's end after taking a deflection from Choudhary's fingers.
The Super Giants seemed to be in a slight worry and also needed 24 runs off 24 balls, but Pooran (32, 17b) struck Kamboj for four sixes on the bounce, just like Marsh did earlier, as they reached home in 16.4 overs. Kamboj ended up with disastrous figures of 2.4-0-63-0.
Earlier, Kartik (71, 42 balls) made a composed fifty after CSK's top-order stumbled against LSG bowlers' hard length strategy.
Kartik and Dewald Brevis (25) added 70 runs for the fourth wicket as CSK slipped out of a tight 52 for three after 7.2 overs.
Kartik has an obvious discomfort against deliveries that raise around his chin but he showed gumption to stay there and overcome the little chink.
On this night, the right-hander started off with freeing his arms against spinner Shahbaz Ahmed, smoking him for a six, and later for a maximum and two fours in a row.
It's his forte, bashing slow bowlers. At that stage, his strike-rate against LSG pacers was 84, while runs came at 140 against the lone spinner in Ahmed.
But soon the 20-year-old found a way to score off pacers too and he tore into Prince Yadav, smashing him for two successive sixes.
Brevis, at the other end, gave him good support, milking a six each off Akash Singh and Ahmed.
Kartik soon reached his fifty in style, clobbering Mohammed Shami for six to reach the mark in 35 balls.
But the veteran India pacer had a crumb of consolation as a sharp bumper caught Brevis off guard, whose pull ended in the hands of Akash.
Kartik too did not last long as he, ironically, fell to spinner Ahmed, lifting him straight to Aiden Markram at long on. He had consumed 42 balls by then.
Before Kartik showcased his heartening maturity, left-arm pacer Akash (3/26) had CSK in a tangle.
The strapping quick used the hard length to a nicety to get rid of Sanju Samson, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Urvil.
Akash does not have blistering pace. But Akash, who bowled four overs on the trot, relied on an exemplary line that denied CSK top-order batters the necessary space to unfurl their big shots.
It was evident in Samson's dismissal, who tried to pull an above waist ball from Akash but there was not enough room for a free swing. The shot ended in a tame catch to Mukul Choudhary near the square leg ropes.
But CSK found a timely saviour in Kartik and later in the big-hitting Shivam Dube (32, 16b).
