On a flat pitch at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, it was a nightmare for bowlers from both sides, as batters dominated the match. After CSK put up 210 runs in the first innings, it still felt like they were short by 10-15 runs. Ravi Bishnoi played a huge role in that, with his four overs producing figures of 2/24. The star of the chase was Evin Lewis, who played an outstanding unbeaten knock of 55 runs off just 23 balls for LSG. Let’s look at some of the key moments from match seven of the 2022 IPL.
LSG erred on line
Lucknow Super Giants brought in AJ Tye to add experience to their bowling lineup. In Avesh Khan and Dushmanth Chameera, LSG have one of the quickest bowling attacks in this IPL. However, without control, the pace can backfire. Khan started the innings with a half-tracker outside off and was dispatched for four by Robin Uthappa. After that wideish ball first up, LSG overcompensated throughout the powerplay.
LSG were guilty of bowling onto the pads of the CSK batters, even drifting down the leg side. This reflects in the scoring areas of the CSK batters. In the Powerplay, out of 71 runs, 50 came on the leg side, which is 70.42% of the total runs.
90% of the runs (45 runs) scored on the leg side in the Powerplay were came in the area between midwicket and 45° on the leg side. In trying to attack the stumps and keeping it tight, LSG bowlers erred by keeping it too straight, and as a result, were taken to the cleaners.
The Bravo – de Kock matchup
Before this match, Dwayne Bravo and Quinton de Kock faced each other eight times in the IPL, and Bravo got the better of de Kock on four times. De Kock teed off in the Powerplay, and that prompted CSK to bring Bravo into the attack.
Bravo, who usually bowls at the death for CSK, was brought in to bowl the last over of the Powerplay. Bravo had a plan against de Kock. De Kock is extremely strong on the off side, especially against balls pitched on a fuller length. Bravo came round the wicket to him with a pack off side. The third man was in, along with the point fielder. The extra cover and mid-off were inside the circle too, and a sweeper was out protecting the boundary on the off side.
The line from Bravo was full and wide of off stump, inviting and challenging de Kock to hit through the line, which is his strength. De Kock almost fell to that ploy, and the matchup almost worked, but Moeen Ali dropped a sitter at extra cover.
Jadeja’s miscalculation
Bowling Bravo early in the inning meant that CSK were taking away their bankable bowler from the death overs. The flat pitch at Brabourne Stadium had nothing on offer for CSK’s two finger-spinners – Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali. And after being taken apart for 35 runs in their combined three overs, Jadeja and Ali were never going to bowl in the last five overs.
Bravo bowling upfront messed up the calculations for Jadeja, who had no other option than to use Shivam Dube to bowl the all-important penultimate over of the chase. With 34 needed from the last two overs, CSK would have hoped that their slightly more experienced bowler, Dube, would leave a good cushion for debutant Mukesh Choudhary in the final over.
Evin Lewis and Ayush Badoni made CSK pay for this decision. The duo sealed the match in the 19th over, with Dube conceding 25 runs from the over. It was as if Dube had no plans, as he kept bowling one half-volley after another in the slot for both batters to take full advantage of them. The decision to bowl Dube was more of a forced one rather than a calculated risk, which was a result of miscalculation from the new CSK skipper.