England all-rounder Moeen Ali took 4-26 as Chennai Super Kings beat Lucknow Super Giants by 12 runs in the Indian Premier League.
Chasing 218, Lucknow raced to 79 in just 5.3 overs with Kyle Mayers hitting a 22-ball 53, before Moeen removed him and fellow opener KL Rahul for 20.
Moeen then got Krunal Pandya and Marcus Stoinis, with Lucknow finishing 205-7.
Chennai made 217-7, with Ruturaj Gaikwad making 57 and England seamer Mark Wood taking 3-49.
England Test captain Ben Stokes surprisingly bowled one over for Chennai.
The all-rounder’s bowling was expected to be limited during the competition after he had an injection in his troublesome left knee. He made it through his wicketless over unscathed – although conceded 18 runs.
Stokes, who was sold to Chennai for about £1.6m, made just eight with the bat, his second successive single-figure score after Chennai lost their opening game to defending champions Gujarat Titans.
But Chennai’s 217 was set up by an explosive opening stand of 110 in 9.1 overs between Gaikwad and New Zealand’s Devon Conway, who made 47.
Ambati Rayudu added 27 not out from 14 balls to propel Chennai past 200, with former India skipper MS Dhoni’s consecutive sixes in the final over drawing the loudest cheers from his home crowd.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi starred for Lucknow with 3-28, while Wood added to his wicket tally after taking 5-14 in Lucknow’s opening win, but conceded more than 12 runs an over.
Lucknow were on top of the required run-rate in the opening powerplay, capitalising on loose bowling and short boundaries, but slipped from 79-0 to 82-3 as Deepak Hooda and Rahul fell in the space of three balls.
West Indies batter Nicholas Pooran struck an entertaining 32 from 18 balls, including three sixes, but the economical spin of Moeen and Mitchell Santner, who claimed 1-21, restricted the flow of runs effectively in the middle overs.
“It was a tough one because they’ve got a lot of big hitters so I was just trying to bowl like I would in Test cricket,” said Moeen.
“It was really pleasing to get the win. It’s always nice to put my hand up and win us some games.”
Lucknow will be looking to bounce back against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday, while Chennai take on Mumbai Indians the following day. (BBC)
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