Mitch Marsh's 38-ball 90 powers his IPL side to victory

[p]Marsh, who had lashed 111 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last Thursday, hammered nine fours and seven sixes in his 38-ball blitz in Lucknow as the home side made light of Chennai’s 187-5, built around a fluent 71 by Kartik Sharma and a grandstand finish from Shivam Dube, whose unbeaten 32 came off 16 deliveries.[/p][p]Chennai, whose late surge after a poor start netted them three consecutive victories coming into this fixture, must have fancied their chances on a surface that offered considerable bounce and was superbly exploited by Lucknow left-arm quick Akash Singh.[/p][p]The 24-year-old Akash, playing his first game of the season, winkled out Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson and Urvil Patel during an unchanged four-over new-ball burst of three for 26 before Kartik and Dube hauled the five-time former champions to what seemed to be a challenging total.[/p][p]Marsh, however, made it appear positively miniscule with a breathtaking onslaught.[/p][p]The Australian T20 skipper got the chase underway with two fours in the first over, from Mukesh Choudhary, before using his trademark power to brazen effect.[/p][p]He unloaded a series of bruising pulls while fellow Australian and opener Josh Inglis was largely content to watch the entertainment from the best seat in the ground.[/p][embed guid="4303ee74-7a35-4dc4-8895-d89002f390d3" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDeuyrKegy8" social-type="youtube" /][p]Marsh was particularly severe on Anshul Kamboj, Chennai’s leading wicket-taker who was smashed for four sixes and a four in the fifth over.[/p][p]With their best bowler neutralised, Chennai caved in, their designs of breaking into the top four for the first time since the tournament began emphatically dashed.[/p][p]Inglis and Marsh raced to an opening alliance of 135 in just 70 deliveries when, against the run of play, the former was caught in the deep off Choudhary.[/p][p]One brought two when Marsh was dismissed next ball. New batter Nicholas Pooran’s straight drive was deflected on to the stumps at the non-striker’s end by the bowler with Marsh, backing up, well short of his ground, 10 short of a third IPL hundred.[/p][p]“[b]Nice to get a win, few and far in between for us this season,” said Marsh, the obvious choice for the player of the match award.[/b][/p][p]"[b]Josh Inglis takes the pressure off me. Having grown up together playing for Western Australia, we know each other well and it was a good partnership tonight.[/b]”[/p][p]Lucknow, already eliminated from the play-off race, weren’t to be denied as Pooran applied the finishing touches.[/p][p]Their fourth win notwithstanding, they still remained rooted to the bottom of the table.[/p]