Moeen Ali shines as Chennai Super Kings defeat Lucknow Super Giants

Kyle Mayers and KL Rahul shared a 79-run first-wicket stand off just 35 balls as the Super Giants looked to make light work of chasing 218 before Moeen (4 for 26) intervened

Chennai: Chennai Super Kings 217-7, Lucknow Super Giants 205-7 – Chennai Super Kings won by 12 runs

Moeen Ali picked up four wickets as Chennai Super Kings fought back from a poor start with the ball to defeat Lucknow Super Giants by 12 runs.

Kyle Mayers supercharged Lucknow's chase, scoring a 21-ball half-century as part of a 79-run first-wicket stand with KL Rahul.

However, the introduction of Moeen (4 for 26) and the equally impressive Mitchell Santner (1 for 21) brought the Super Kings back into the game, with three wickets in three overs causing their opponents to falter.

^{Kyle Mayers scored a blistering half-century for the Super Giants}

Moeen struck in the final over of the powerplay to remove Mayers for 53 (22) and accounted for Rahul (20 off 18) two overs later while Santner combined with Ben Stokes to dismiss Deepak Hooda for two.

And from that point on, regular wickets disrupted Lucknow's chase with a 39-run seventh-wicket stand between Krishnappa Gowtham and Ayush Badoni the only partnership to yield more than 30 runs.

Moeen accounted for Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis while the expensive Tushar Deshpande picked up Nicholas Pooran (32 off 18) and Badoni as the Super Giants were restricted to 205 for 7 in pursuit of 218.

Earlier, Ruturaj Gaikwad had led the way with the bat for Chennai Super Kings, scoring 57 runs off 31 balls at the top of the order and sharing a 110-run opening partnership with Devon Conway (47 off 29).

Both openers were removed either side of drinks – Mark Wood taking the catch to dismiss Gaikwad and then picking up the wicket of Conway – but the runs continued to flow for the home side, with handy contributions from Shivam Dube (27 off 16), Moeen (19 off 13) and Ambati Rayudu (27 off 14) helping them to 217 for 7.

Ravi Bishnoi was the pick of Lucknow's bowlers, taking 3 for 28, while Wood collected 3 for 49.

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