Gaikwad: 'Dew took our spinners out of the game'

After Lucknow Super Giants pulled off the highest successful chase at Chepauk, the Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad said that excess dew took the home team's spinners out of the game.

Even though Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali conceded only 37 runs in four overs, both spinners delivered only half their quota of overs in CSK's unsuccessful defence of 210. LSG achieved victory with three balls to spare on the back of Marcus Stoinis' unbeaten 124.

"Tough pill to swallow," Gaikwad, who scored an unbeaten 108 after CSK were sent into bat, said. "But good game of cricket. LSG played really well in the back end. We had the game in control till the 13th-14th over but hats off to Stoinis. He played brilliantly.

"Dew played a part. I feel it was a slightly huge amount of dew and took our spinners away from the game. If there was no dew, we could have controlled the middle phase and taken the game deeper. It's part of cricket. You really can't change the non-controllable. Long way to go in the tournament."

Gaikwad also explained why Shivam Dube, CSK's second-highest run-getter of IPL 2024 and the tournament's most-prolific six-hitter, came into bat only in the 12th over.

Dube walked in at No. 5 with CSK losing steam through the middle overs, but upped the run scoring rate with a 27-ball 66 that helped lift the hosts to 210 for 4. Before his arrival, Jadeja and Daryl Mitchell combined to score only 21 in 29 balls.

"Well, obviously Jaddu [Jadeja] is batting at No. 4 and we lost the second wicket in the powerplay. So he was the one to come at that stage," Gaikwad said. "We have a pretty much clear process and clear thinking and that after the powerplay if wicket comes then he [Dube] will come. You cannot force yourself to get out and ask him to come in."

Even though Dube had said at the halfway stage that CSK's total was ten runs above par, Gaikwad said later that he felt the target of 211 was just about par.

"Batting first, we couldn't have got more than that," he said. "To be honest, I never thought it was enough, just about par with the kind of dew we've been having in the last few practice sessions. I knew it will go down to the last over but credit to them, they batted really well."

After completing the double over CSK in the league phase, KL Rahul said LSG's victory at Chepauk felt "super special."

"Very special, especially when it's a game like that," Rahul said. "A total of 210-plus runs scored on either side. Felt like, for most of the innings when we were batting, we were way behind in the game and just to pull off a victory like that.... super special.

"[Beating CSK earlier] didn't make a difference, it was a fresh start. Both teams start on zero and there were different conditions here. They got off to a really good start here. And put pressure on our bowlers to get 210 on that pitch, I didn't think it was a 200+ wicket, felt 170-180 was a good total on that pitch.

"They batted well and we didn't start well, but all credit to Stoinis. The way he batted. Phenomenal to watch from outside. Not just power hitting, but also very smart batting."

After suffering back-to-back defeats against LSG - and their third loss in their last five matches - CSK have slipped to fifth on the points table after eight games. LSG have climbed to fourth with ten points from eight games.