CHENNAI: An unbeaten 108 by Ruturaj Gaikwad and a brilliant half-century (66) by Shivam Dube propelled Chennai Super Kings to 210/4 in 20 overs against Lucknow Super Giants in at Chepauk on Tuesday.
Gaikwad played with a lot of responsibility and purpose. He used his feet well and was judicious in his shot selection.
Even as the hosts lost a few wickets in the first phase of the innings, he did not allow pressure to affect his game and went about his task professionally.
His glide off Mohsin Khan where the ball went to backward point boundary and his perfect sweep off Krunal Pandya showed his class and control.
At the other end, Dube put to use his height and struck three consecutive sixes off Yash Thakur to send the stands into delirium. His end came when he was run out while taking a quick single. Ruturaj and Dube added 104 runs in 47 balls for the fourth wicket.
Earlier put into bat, CSK lost their opener Ajinkya Rahane cheaply.
Rahane tried to drive a length ball from Matt Henry but only managed an edge which was held brilliantly by KL Rahul, diving to his right.
From then on, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and Daryl Mitchell combined and tried to make the best use of the powerplay restrictions.
Mitchell, who was drafted in the side in place of Rachin Ravindra, rode on the slice of luck to give a good support to Ruturaj. He played fluently, to the merit of the ball and also found the gaps to score runs. He scored boundaries at will be it off Henry, Mohsin Khan and Ravi Bishnoi.
When the duo seemed to be on track to forge a good stand, Rahul's bowling change did the trick for Lucknow. Rahul brought on Yash Thakur and was rewarded.
Mitchell was done in by a change of pace. He pulled a length delivery from Thakur that was a tad slow straight to Deepak Hooda at mid-wicket.
CSK were reduced to 49 for 2 in 5.2 overs. The hosts were 15-20 runs short in power play.
Now, the CSK think tank were in a dilemma as to whom to send. They chose to promote Ravindra Jadeja.
The Saurashtra-born player could not force the pace and got out. But Dube, who should have come actually before Jadeja, did not disappoint. His first strike was a huge six off Stoinis where the ball sailed straight into the sight screen over the bowler's head to the delight of the packed stadium.
Dube combined admirably with Ruturaj and the duo scored runs at a brisk pace.
Rahul had a tough time trying to contain the left-right combination.
Dube's effort was infectious as Ruturaj did a 'Dube' and carted Mohsin into the stands over midwicket to enter the 90's. While on 99, a boundary off Yash through extra-covers ringed in his century, his second in the IPL.