Lucknow: Ayush Badoni stood tall amidst the ruins with a classy unbeaten half-century on a poor surface before a sharp downpour forced Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to split points as their IPL match was called off on Wednesday.
This was the first game in the 16th edition of IPL that had to be called off due to rain.
Rain stopped play in the 20th over but by then Badoni, who came in at 44/5 had put his team in a position of respectability on a difficult track.
Badoni, smashed two fours and four sixes in his 33-ball-59 and his temperament on a surface conducive for slow bowlers was worth its weight in gold as it didn't seem at one point that LSG could cross 125-run mark.
With 11 points from 10 games, LSG and CSK are placed second and third on points table respectively. LSG (+0.639) have a better net run rate compared to CSK (+0.329).
It was a good toss to win for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the CSK skipper's decision to bowl first was vindicated by his bowlers.
Most of the balls were gripping off the wicket and the batters found it extremely difficult to hit through the line as Moeen Ali (2/13 in 4 overs), Ravindra Jadeja (1/11 in 3 overs) and Maheesh Theekshana (2/37 in 4 overs) kept them under tight leash and also got wickets at regular intervals.
Such was their dominance that the first six of the innings came in the 15th over when Badoni, coming in at No.7, slog swept Sri Lankan spinner Theekshana over mid-wicket and got another maximum in the next over to get some momentum going for his team.
Dhoni, who rightly assessed the track as "tacky", got Moeen into the attack in the fourth over and a flighted delivery inviting Kyle Mayers (14) to break the shackles did the trick as he could only mistime a skier to Ruturaj Gaikwad in the deep.
Manan Vohra (10) tried a non-existent lap-shot and Krunal Pandya was snapped at slip by Ajinkya Rahane.
The ball of the innings was certainly bowled by Jadeja, who got one to turn sharply as Marcus Stoinis drew forward only to find the ball turn sharply past his outside edge and peg the off-stump back.
Karan Sharma's 16-ball stay for a painstaking nine was indeed a struggle before he offered a return catch to Moeen.
Badoni and Nicholas Pooran (20) then added 59 for the sixth wicket.
