Match overview
Chennai Super Kings beat Lucknow Super Giants by 5 wickets at BRSABV Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow, on 14 April 2025. Lucknow posted 166/7 batting first, a total that fell 11 runs short of the ground's average first-innings score of 177. Chennai's reply was built on a strong powerplay of 59/1 and finished cleanly, scoring 57 runs from the death overs without losing a wicket. MS Dhoni was named Player of the Match. For Chennai, it was a first win of the IPL 2025 season after five consecutive defeats.
Lucknow's innings had good phases and poor ones. Their powerplay produced 42 runs for 2 wickets, slightly below the Ekana average of 47, and the middle overs added 67 more at the cost of 2 more wickets. The death was livelier, 57 from the final phase, but 3 wickets falling in that stretch left the target shorter than it might have been. Chennai found that target well within range from the moment their openers took 59 off the first six overs.
The result levels the all-time head-to-head at 3–3, with one no result from 6 meetings. Lucknow had won the previous two encounters, including an 8-wicket victory at this same Ekana ground in 2024. CSK's win here snaps that run.
Venue and conditions
Ekana Stadium has hosted 44 T20 matches. The average first-innings score across those is 177 and the average second-innings score is 157. That gap suggests batting first offers an advantage in the abstract, though the chasing side has won 53% of games here. Toss winners field 68% of the time, as Chennai opted to do.
Powerplay run rates at Ekana average 47 runs per innings across that sample. CSK's 59/1 in the powerplay was well above that benchmark and effectively put the chase in their hands before the halfway point. Lucknow's own powerplay of 42/2 was below average on home turf, which left their middle-order doing more repair work than they would have wanted.
The death phase is where Ekana can be punishing. The average death haul here is 40 runs per innings, meaning both sides exceeded that. Lucknow's 57 from the death was impressive but came at the cost of 3 wickets. Chennai matched that figure in the same phase and lost none, the cleanest possible execution in the closing stages of a chase.
How to watch
IPL 2025 is broadcast live in the UK on Sky Sports Cricket. Matches can be streamed via Sky Go for existing Sky subscribers or through a NOW TV day or month pass for those without a full subscription. Given the time difference between the UK and India, most evening IPL matches start between 14:00 and 15:30 BST, making them accessible for afternoon viewing.
Highlights and clips are typically available through the IPL's official digital channels and the JioCinema platform, though geo-restrictions may apply for UK viewers on certain services. Sky Sports remains the primary legal broadcast option in the United Kingdom.
Recent form
Lucknow came into this fixture in reasonable shape. They had won four of their previous five IPL 2025 matches, beating Gujarat Titans, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, and Sunrisers Hyderabad, with only a loss to Punjab Kings interrupting that run. A home match against a CSK side without a win looked like a comfortable proposition on paper.
Chennai's position told a different story. Five straight defeats in 2025, to Kolkata Knight Riders, Punjab Kings, Delhi Capitals, Rajasthan Royals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore, had left them bottom of the pile and under real pressure. Back-to-the-wall cricket can focus a side, and CSK's performance here, particularly their death overs execution, suggested they have more to offer this season than that sequence implied. Whether one win changes their trajectory in a competition where they need to win consistently from here remains the question for the matches ahead.
