MS Dhoni won his first player of the match award after 2019.
New Delhi: The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) took on the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Ekana Stadium on Monday, April 14, in their IPL 2025 clash. While LSG was in good touch throughout season 2024, they couldn’t do much with the bat in this one, despite a determined effort featuring a fifty-plus score by Rishabh Pant.
On the other hand, CSK came into the game on the back of five consecutive losses after a strong start to their campaign. Finally, they ended their losing streak with an essential victory in Lucknow, courtesy of setting the stage by Shaik Rasheed and Rachin Ravindra, followed by the finish from Shivam Dube and the evergreen MS Dhoni.
Due to a season-ending injury to captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dhoni came back to lead this, the first time he has captained the side since leading them to their fifth IPL title in 2023. Just when the morale was at its lowest after a crushing defeat at home to Kolkata Knight Riders in Chepauk, CSK rose brilliantly and revived the hopes of their fans with a much-needed away victory.
CSK tried a new approach with changes in batting order and playing 11, and it resulted in their favor with a victory in chasing a total of 167 runs with 5 wickets in hand. The batting order was as listed below:
1. Shaikh Rashid
2. Rachin Ravindra
3. Rahul Tripathi
4. Ravindra Jadeja
5. Shivam Dubey
6. Vijay Shankar
7. MS Dhoni
8. Vansh Bedi
9. Jami Overton
10. Anshul Kamboj
11. Noor Ahmad
CSK Makes Two Changes to Their Playing XI against Lucknow Super Giants. The side introduced Jamie Overton and Shaik Rasheed in place of Devon Conway and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Ravindra Jadeja was in at 4, Shivam Dubey at 5, Vijay Shankar at 6, and MS Dhoni at 7.
Guntur, Andhra Pradesh’s 20-year-old Shaikh Rashid, made his debut against LSG in IPL 2025. This top order batsman earned brownie points for himself with his performance in the triumphant Indian U19 team which lifted the age category World Cup held in 2022, with Rashid playing smashing knocks in both the semi-final and final and having made a well-timed half-century in the summit clash poised India to the title.
This has got to be the first time in the season that the legendary finisher has been taking charge and running things in a chase when it was all game to hold. As for his decision to go head-on against the LSG attack, that changed everything in the death overs for CSK.
It was a tough ask for Dube, with Shardul Thakur at the other end, but he immediately broke the shackles when he hit consecutive boundaries—a four and a six—in the penultimate over, the second one as a result of a free hit. The two shots blasted the second-to-last over, which accounted for 19 runs when 24 seemed needed off 12, into mere formality now for Dhoni and Dube.
For the first time last lst season, the legendary finisher was taking control with a side that came under pressure, but as long as they could bring the game at hand, he decided to go head-on against their attack, shift suddenly in favor of CSK for the death overs.
The left-handed Dube remained unbeaten on 43 runs off 37 balls, and fans got to witness the classic match finishing with batting by THALA (MS Dhoni), who scored 26 runs off 11 balls remaining not out.
“It’s always good to win, especially for a tournament such as this where every match counts. Sadly, things have not been going our way lately. This could be for several reasons. Getting a win really boosts the confidence of the team. It also gives us the opportunity to sharpen up and work on the areas where we’ve been sorely lacking. When things get tough in cricket, it is just like a test from above,” said MS Dhoni.
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