The surface was like Niagara Falls in terms of wetness: Stephen Fleming

Chennai Super Kings, despite posting a humungous total of 210 runs batting first, failed to defend the total as Shivam Dube conceded 25 runs in the penultimate over of the innings to hand Lucknow Super Giants a six-wicket win. Excessive dew on the surface didn't help the spinners at all, as all they could manage was zero turns and no grip. Pacers had to step up but that was never enough on a ground where a misfit also went for a six.

Chennai Super Kings Head Coach Stephen Fleming likened the dew to Niagara Falls in terms of wetness and stated that it was not plausible for a spinner to be effective on this surface.

"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 [LSG] played well. 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 said in the post-match press conference.

“We’ve got some young guys – playing Mukesh for the first time, Deshpande has played a little bit before. But I thought it was really honest. It’s really tough out there - you can’t appreciate how wet that ball is and the outfield is. So it’s very difficult to get any aggressive play, I think we were bowling defensively from about 10 overs onwards. I thought they hung in really well, started really well in tough conditions."

The decision to use Dube in the 19th over was decided in the middle and the team knew that it was going to be a vital one for the side to register the win. However, the tactic didn't work out in their favour as Evin Lewis latched onto the opportunity in his own way.

“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,” the Kiwi man added.

CSK will now take on Punjab Kings on Sunday (April 3).