Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) rode on Marcus Stoinis’ stunning 124 not out as the KL Rahul-led side chased down 211 versus Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in match 40 of the IPL 2024 edition on Tuesday (April 23) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. After Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 108* and Shivam Dube’s 27-ball 66 propelled Chennai to 210-4, not many gave Lucknow a chance but Stoinis’ promotion at No. 3 worked wonders for the two-year-old franchise.

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Talking about Lucknow’s chase, they were reduced to 33 for 2 and had a lot to do after reeling at 88 for 3 in 11 overs. Nonetheless, Stoinis — who batted mostly at No. 5 this season was promoted to No. 3 — came out all guns blazing and cleverly led the run-chase to end with a 63-ball 124*, laced with 13 fours and 6 sixes at 196.83. 

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After the game, Lucknow captain Rahul explained the move to send Stoinis at No. 3. He said at the post-match presentation, “We felt like we needed to be braver and capitalize the powerplay and needed 1 power-hitter in the top-3.” He further added, ” I’ve realised that T20 cricket has changed in the past couple of years, 170-180 doesn’t always cut it. You need to go harder in the powerplay and the impact player rule also gives you a bit more depth.”

Stoinis’ best score was 58 in this season before the Australian all-rounder turned it around brilliantly versus the defending champions. After ending with the Player-of-the-Match award, he said, ” It’s not just go go go, there were some bowlers we wanted to target and some bowlers we wanted to be more cautious against. There was a phase where I wasn’t able to hit the boundaries so it was great Pooran could come in and take the pressure off. Lots of ebbs and flows, just tried to keep it in control.”

Courtesy of Stoinis, Lucknow completed a double over CSK and are now at the fourth spot, with 10 points from eight encounters. 

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