Man of the Match Today: Who Won MOTM Award in CSK vs LSG IPL 2023 Match at Chepauk?

The recently concluded sixth match of the ongoing 16th season of the Indian Premier League was a thrilling high-scoring encounter which witnessed spinners registering the biggest triumph among all other departments of the game.

If truth be told, it isn’t astonishing for spinners to dictate terms at the MA Chidambaram Stadium but the likes of Ravi Bishnoi, Moeen Ali and Mitchell Santner remaining calm under pressure with runs flowing left, right and centre was pleasing to see.

Chasing a 218-run target, Lucknow Super Giants eventually fell short by 12 runs in spite of all-rounder Kyle Mayers giving them a head-start on the back of hitting eight fours and two sixes at a strike rate of 240.90 during the course of his 22-ball 53.

With other batters not being able to capitalize on this start, wicket-keeper Nicholas Pooran (32) led a comeback on the part of their lower-order batters but scoring 62 runs in the last four overs needed a herculean effort from one of those batters.

Put in to bat first by Lucknow captain KL Rahul (20), Chennai Super Kings once again thrived because of a 55-ball 110-run opening partnership between Ruturaj Gaikwad (57) and Devon Conway (47). Batter Ambati Rayudu (27*) and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (12) hit two fours and four sixes between them to power Chennai to 217/7 in 20 overs.

Man of the Match Today

Coming back to the spinners, Bishnoi put on display a spectacle as his bowling figures of 4-0-28-3 comprised dismissals of Gaikwad, Shivam Dube (27) and Ali (19). The fact that the leg-spinner dismissed two left-handed batters contrary to popular opinion spoke highly of both his craft and confidence.

With their pacers leaking runs in the powerplay, Super Kings were brought back into the contest by overseas all-rounders Ali (4/26) and Santner (1/21). An off-spinner and a left-arm spinner picking five wickets at an economy rate of less than 6 between them brought back numerous memories of Dhoni playing around with spinners at the Chepauk.

While Ali dismissed Mayers right before the completion of the powerplay, Santner followed suit by sending Deepak Hooda (2) back to the pavilion in the following over. In his next two overs, Ali picked the wickets of Rahul and Krunal Pandya (9) before dismissing Marcus Stoinis (21) in his fourth over.

Needless to say, the 35-year old Englishman was adjudged the Player of the Match for his game-changing spell on Monday. “They have big hitters. Almost tried to bowl like Test cricket. Tried to spin the ball. The combination [with Mitchell Santner] was nice. The partnership worked well. MS [Dhoni] knows what he’s doing. He knows when to bowl players,” Ali told Star Sports Network during the post-match presentation ceremony.