KKR 235/6 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 81(39), Phil Salt 32(14); Naveen-Ul-Haq 3/49 in 4 overs) beat LSG 137/10 in 16.1 overs (Marcus Stoinis 36(21). KL Rahul 25(21); Harshit Rana 3/23 in 3.1 overs) by 98 runs.
The Kolkata Knight Riders took on the Lucknow Super Giants at the mesmerising Ekana Stadium in Lucknow in a clash of two strong sides. Both teams high on momentum, faced off against each other and looked for an important win to seal a top two spot in the going into the playoffs. After being put into bat first, KKR started as they always do - Explosively. The tremendous partnership of Phil Salt and Sunil Narine haunted LSG right from the start as the duo started off aggressively in the powerplay. Salt started in outstanding fashion as he smashed the new ball bowlers everywhere. Narine on the other hand continued his free flowing aggressive batting approach as he also took it upon himself to smash as many runs as possible in the powerplay. After a rollicking start, KKR lost the wicket of Salt, however Young Angkrish Raghuvanshi came in with tremendous intent and forged another solid partnership with Narine. Sunil, continued to take on the bowlers and picked all of their variations and deposited them to all parts of the ground. His incredible innings of 81 which included a whopping 7 sixes and 6 fours laid a foundation for a big first innings total for KKR. Post Narine’s innings, a late order blitz of 25 off just 6 balls from Ramandeep Singh steered KKR to a massive total of 235.
As they stepped onto the field to defend a huge total, KKR looked to put a lot of pressure on the opposition with their accurate lines and lengths. Mitchell Starc started it all as he picked up the first wicket to provide KKR the momentum. After that, the KKR bowlers maintained solid composure and kept picking wickets. The man with golden arm Andre Russell picked up two crucial wickets of Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran to break the back of the LSG batting order. KKR dominated the proceedings all throughout the game and allowed no respite to the LSG batters. A tremendous performance from the spinners as well as the pacers helped KKR to seal the victory by a huge margin of 98 runs as LSG folded on a modest score 137. A commanding victory which all the players will cherish takes KKR to the top of the table and their path to qualification becomes clear.
