LSG vs KKR: Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) have sealed their spot in the top four after beating Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 1 run in a last-over thriller on Saturday. Batting first, the Super Giants managed to score 176 runs on the board.
They didn’t make a great start as the likes of Karan Sharma (3), de Kock (28), and Prerak Mankad (26) failed to play a big knock. Stonis and Krunal Pandya also departed on single-digit scores and Lucknow, at one stage, were in trouble at 73 for 5 at the halfway stage of the innings.
However, Nicholas Pooran turned the momentum, ultimately, by playing an impactful knock of 58 runs in 30 deliveries at a strike rate of 193. Ayush Badoni also chipped in with 25 off 21.
It was a collective bowling effort from the Kolkata Knight Riders. Vaibhav Arora, Thakur and Narine picked two wickets each. In reply, Kolkata Knight Riders started off aggressively and reached the 60-run mark in the first five overs.
However, K Gowtham finally broke the partnership after he accounted for the wicket of Venkatesh Iyer, who looked brilliant for his knock of 24 off 15. Jason Roy was also gutted after getting bowled off by Krunal Pandya. He amassed 45 off 28, a knock laced with 7 fours and 1 six.
Heroics of Rinku Singh goes in vain as KKR falls short of 1 run
Nitish Rana (8) and Gurbaz (10) also departed cheaply as KKR lost wickets regularly. Andre Russell threatened to take the game away but Bishnoi rattled his stumps to leave KKR five down for 120 runs.
KKR were favourites to win the game at that point, however, what followed was another masterclass knock from Rinku Singh. He, almost, took his team home with his sensational knock of 67 runs in 33 balls, including 6 fours and 4 sixes.
Rinku smashed three fours and 1 six off Naveen Ul Haq in the penultimate over and then smacked 2 sixes and a four in the final over but KKR fell just 1 run short in the end.
LSG vs KKR Brief Scores
Lucknow Super Giants 176 for 8 (Pooran 58, Shardul Thakur 2-27, Narine 2-28) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 175 for 7 (Rinku 67*, Roy 45, Bishnoi 2-23, Yash Thakur 2-32) by one run
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