Marsh and Akash shine as CSK playoff hopes take hit

Akash Singh’s 3/26: CSK Top-Order Collapse Left-arm pacer used hard lengths on a fiery red-soil pitch to wreck CSK early3 wickets: Sanju Samson 20, Ruturaj Gaikwad 13, Urvil Patel 6CSK reeling at 52/3 in 8 overs, then 61/3Figures: 3/26, never allowed batters room to free arms. Mitchell Marsh's boundary-laden 90 off 38 balls dented Chennai Super Kings' playoffs chances and gave the Lucknow crowd something to cheer about. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) dropped from fifth to sixth after the result, with Rajasthan Royals (RR) leapfrogging them on net run-rate. RR have played one match fewer than CSK's 12 so far. CSK Recovery to 187/5Kartik Sharma 71 off 42 – career-best T20 score, 2nd fifty of season. Reached 50 in 35 balls. Shivam Dube 32_ off 16 – late surge, 23 runs off Prince Yadav’s final over. Partnerships: Kartik + Dewald Brevis 25 took CSK to 108/3, then 142/5 in 16 overs. Akash Singh emerged from the sidelines for his first game of the season and produced career-best IPL figures of 4-0-26-3, against his former team. While Mohammed Shami explored the full length and conceded three fours to Sanju Samson in the first over, Akash banged it away on a hard length on a bouncy, red-soil Ekana pitch. He cramped all of Ruturaj Gaikwad, Samson and Urvil Patel and celebrated every wicket by pulling out a note from his pocket, which read: "#Akki on fire - Akash knows how to take wickets in a T20 game"Strike rate 236.84 – 9 fours, 7 sixes. Powerplay carnage: LSG 86/0 after 6 overs. Marsh hit 4 consecutive sixes + four off Anshul Kamboj – 28-run over. 50 in 21 balls – pulled Spencer Johnson for four. 135-run opening stand with Josh Inglis 36 off 32 killed the chase. Out for 90: Run out after straight drive from Pooran deflected off Mukesh Choudhary’s. CSK's 36 for 2 became 52 for 3 when Urvil holed out, but rookie Kartik Sharma repaired the innings along with Dewald Brevis, who contributed 25 off 16 balls. When left-arm fingerspinner Shahbaz Ahmed dragged one marginally short, Kartik picked up the length in a flash and swatted a six over midwicket in the ninth over. While Kartik's back-foot play was Ambati Rayudu-esque, some of his front-foot shots and off-side range were reminiscent of Samson. Bottom line: Akash’s 3-for exposed CSK’s top order, Kartik/Dube dragged them to 187, but Marsh’s brutal 90 + Inglis 135-run stand made it one-sided. Pooran closed it out to leave CSK’s playoff hopes “hanging by a thread”. Shivam Dube managed just one boundary off his first 11 balls, but went 6,4,4,6 off his last four balls to finish with an unbeaten 32 off 16 balls. Prashant Veer made a more sedate 13 not out off ten balls. With LSG incurring a penalty for slow over rate in the last over of the innings - they had just four men outside the circle - Prince Yadav cracked under pressure and leaked 23 runs. Soon after Johnson knocked Abdul Samad over for seven off three balls, but Pooran rushed LSG home with four successive sixes off Kamboj, leaving CSK's best bowler this season nursing figures of 2.4-0-63-0. Lucknow Super Giants 188 for 3 (Marsh 90, Inglis 36, Pooran 32*) beat Chennai Super Kings 187 for 5 (Kartik 71, Dube 32, Akash 3-26) by seven wickets