Sunil Narine was in scorching form as he scored an incredible 81 runs at Ekana on Sunday to lead Kolkata Knight Riders to a stunning victory over Lucknow Super Giants. Despite Narine’s 400+ run total this IPL season, KKR’s large victory margin allowed them to top the points table. Once more, after losing the toss, LSG captain KL Rahul asked KKR to bat first. However, as the KKR openers destroyed the powerplay, amassing 70/1, the strategy of limiting the visitors to a below-average total was blown away. The super start was provided by Phil Salt and Narine, and even after they left, Ramandeep Singh’s explosion in the death overs meant a huge total was reached. KKR scored 235 runs at a cost of 6 wickets.
To respond, the LSG batsmen had to get off to a fast start in order to set up that kind of total, but KKR controlled the game in the second innings as well. The hosts were ultimately routed, conceding 137 runs in 16.1 overs, and KKR emerged victorious in match 54 of the Tata IPL 2024.
LSG seemed to be out of the game at all. After ten overs, they had lost half the side. Arshin Kulkarni (9), Deepak Hooda (5), and captain KL Rahul (25), on the right. Hard hitters like Marcus Stoinis (36), Nicholas Pooran (10), and others were cheap.
Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana both claimed three wickets apiece, but Narine was the most economical bowler. With one more game to go, KKR’s victory vaulted them to the top of the table where they are now tied with Rajasthan Royals at 16 points.
Scorecard: Lucknow Super Giants vs. Kolkata Knight Riders
Lucknow Super Giants:
- KL Rahul c Ramandeep Singh b Harshit Rana 25
- Arshin Kulkarni c Ramandeep Singh b Starc 9
- Marcus Stoinis c Harshit Rana b Russell 36
- Deepak Hoodalbw b Chakaravarthy 5
- Nicholas Pooran c Salt b Russell 10
- Ayush Badoni c Starc b Narine 15
- Ashton Turner c and b Chakaravarthy 16
- Krunal Pandya c Salt b Harshit Rana 5
- Yudhvir Singh Charak c Russell b Chakaravarthy 7
- Ravi Bishnoi lbw b Harshit Rana 2
- Naveen-ul-Haq not out 0
- Extras: (LB-1, W-6) 7
- Total: (All out in 16.1 Overs) 137
- Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-70, 3-77, 4-85, 5-101, 6-109, 7-125, 8-129, 9-137, 10-137.
- Bowling: Vaibhav Arora 2-0-21-0, Mitchell Starc 2-0-22-1, Sunil Narine 4-0-22-1, Harshit Rana 3.1-0-24- 3, Varun Chakravarthy 3-0-30-3, Andre Russell 2-0-17- 2.
Kolkata Knight Riders:
- Phil Salt c Rahul b Naveen-ul-Haq 32
- Sunil Narine c sub b Ravi Bishnoi 81
- Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Rahul b Yudhvir Singh 32
- Andre Russell c sub b Naveen-ul-Haq 12
- Rinku Singh c Stoinis b Naveen-ul-Haq 16
- Shreyas Iyer c Rahul b Yash Thakur 23
- Ramandeep Singh not out 25
- Venkatesh Iyer not out 1
- Extras: (W-13) 13
- Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 235
- Fall of wickets: 1/61 2/140 3/167 4/171 5/200 6/224 Bowling: Marcus Stoinis 2-0-29-0, Mohsin Khan 2-0-28-0, Naveen-ul-Haq 4-0-49-3, Yash Thakur 4-0-46-1, Krunal Pandya 2-0-26-0, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-33-1, Yudhvir Singh 2-0-24-1.
