IPL 2023: Rain plays spoilsport as LSG and CSK share honours, Ayush Badoni rocks with the bat

IPL 2023: Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings came up with competitive performances, only for the rain to play spoilsport, forcing the two sides to share honours, while Ayush Badoni was the highlight of the tie.

Ayush Badoni stood tall amidst the ruins with a classy half-century on a poor surface before a sharp downpour forced Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and former four-time champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to split points as their 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) match was called off on Wednesday. It is the first game in the 16th edition of IPL that had to be called off midway due to rain.

The 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 rigid surface. 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 the 125-run mark.

With 11 points from 10 games, LSG and CSK are placed second and third on the points table, respectively. LSG (+0.639) has a better net run rate than CSK (+0.329). It was a good toss to win for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and his bowlers vindicated the CSK skipper's decision to bowl first on a surface that is certainly not good enough for an absorbing Twenty20 (T20) contest.

Most of the balls were gripping off the surface. The batters found it extremely difficult to hit through the line, unlike on other surfaces, 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 a 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. 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. Karn Sharma's 16-ball stay for a painstaking nine was a struggle before he offered a return catch to Moeen Ali. Badoni and Nicholas Pooran (20) added 59 for the sixth wicket.