Sunil Narine's explosive 39-balls 81 coupled with an impressive spell propelled Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a resounding 98-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in their IPL 2024 encounter on May 5. LSG's decision to bowl first backfired spectacularly. Sunil Narine unleashed his power-hitting prowess, smashing seven sixes and six fours, propelling KKR to become the first team to cross the 200-run mark at the Ekana Stadium (235/6). Chasing a daunting target, the LSG batsmen were under pressure from the outset. Struggling to find boundaries, they were eventually bundled out for a meager 137 in 16.1 overs, highlighting the dominance of the KKR bowling attack which was led by Harshit Rana and Varun Chakaravarthy who dazzled with three wickets each.
With this win KKR jumped to top of the IPL 2024's points table with 16 wins in 11 games.
KL Rahul criticises LSG's poor performance
Meanwhile, skipper KL Rahul, who could only score 25 off 21, rued LSG's big defeat and criticised his team's overall poor performance.
“It was a lot of runs to be scored in the second innings. When you are chasing a big total, you are trying to go too hard and you end up losing wickets. Just a poor performance overall. We didn't (hit our lengths on a consistent basis), just been a poor performance overall with bat, ball and in the field,” KL Rahul said at the post-match presentation.
Rahul heaped praise on KKR batters, particularly Narine and Phil Salt who gave their team a blistering start, powering them to 61 runs in mere 4.2 overs.
“Sunil Narine and Phil Salt, in the powerplay, we've seen how they bat and they do put a lot of pressure on the opposition. Our young bowlers couldn't handle that kind of pressure and he hit some really good shots,” LSG skipper added.
The Lucknow Super Giants batting order crumbled within the first 10 overs. Key players like skipper KL Rahul (25), Arshdeep Singh (9), Deepak Hooda (5), and big-hitters Marcus Stoinis (36) and Nicholas Pooran (10) were dismissed cheaply. Ashton Turner, however, offered a glimmer of hope with some powerful shots, seemingly ready to unleash his batting potential. Unfortunately, his innings was cut short in an unfortunate manner. An inside edge from his boot deflected back onto the stumps, resulting in a caught and bowled dismissal for Varun Chakravarthy. This unlucky dismissal proved another setback for the struggling LSG batting line-up.
“That's how IPL is, you come up against really good players and that's when your character is tested. We weren't up to the mark. The wicket was really good, felt like a pretty true wicket, there was a bit of bounce if you bowled hard lengths and back of a lengths, but nothing out of the ordinary and it didn't seem like a pitch that was really bad. 235 was probably 20 or 30 runs above par and our batting performance was really poor. When you're chasing such a big score, you're under pressure, it's always hard. We prepare well in advance and talk about the opposition batters, we know our conditions here and we do spend a little bit of time talking to the bowlers and talking to the batters trying to see what kind of plans we need to come up with. Once we come here, it's about execution and we went wrong in that part,” Rahul further stated.
After their fresh defeat against KKR, LSG dropped to fifth spot from third, which hampered their playoff chances. LSG will have to ensure they win all their remaining matches in order to finish in top four.
“Bowlers tried their best but the young group really ... the sooner you learn, the better it for the team. We've made a couple of mistakes when we've come up against batters like Sunil and anyone that's powerful. That type of intimidation puts pressure on our bowlers. That'll be the chat once we get back to the dressing room - move on from this game, see where we went wrong and try and get better. This is our last home game for us, so we are on the road for the next three games. It's pretty clear for us, if you want to get to the top four, you got to win all the games. That will give us a little bit of freedom to go out there and be a little bit more fearless, little bit brave to take on the game,” he concluded.
KKR will now face Mumbai Indians (MI) on May 11 while LSG will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 8.
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