The game between Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings ended in a thrilling way as new entrants LSG defeated the defending champions by six wickets. The talking point after the game was Shivam Dube being introduced in the 19th over. It was a decision that proved to be costly for the team. In this article, we check out the reason for Shivam Dube bowling the penultimate over.
Shivam Dube bowling the penultimate over was a massive surprise
With 34 runs needed in the last two overs, LSG was not in the best position. They had lost some crucial wickets and at the crease were Evin Lewis and the newly arrived Ayush Badoni. Although the CSK bowlers had gone for plenty, things seemed pretty simple for them at that point. However, Ravindra Jadeja and co. pulled off a really debatable decision then.
Shivam Dube, who had not bowled so far, got the ball for the penultimate over. It was a move that backfired for the franchise. LSG got 25 runs off that over. Hence, the equation came down to just nine runs of the final over. Then, it was just a matter of one hit for them to close the game. They did it and got their first-ever IPL victory.
Stephen Fleming explains the reason for the decision
Dew played a role in the second innings and CSK coach Stephen Fleming also opined of the same. Talking in the post-match press conference, the Kiwi said, “If you’d looked earlier on, spinning options were taken out of play because it was like Niagara Falls in terms of the wetness and they played well.”
He continued, saying, “So it was very hard to, one, grip the ball for a spinner and, two, to be effective. So early on, we were one over short, but they played well. We always knew we had to pick up an over somewhere — we were hoping to be able to create enough of a run-rate towards the end that we could squeeze someone in.”
Fleming confirmed that bowling Dube was a decision that was taken in the middle. He revealed, “Whether that was another spinner, the decision was made in the middle to use Dube, and they counted it well. So we always knew that one over was going to be pivotal and I think they did as well, but they played it very well.”
CSK will next face Punjab Kings on Sunday. The team is certain to have a few changes for that encounter.
