KKR’s Dominating Victory over LSG with Narine’s Stellar Performance, Tops IPL Table 2024
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) secured a resounding victory against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), propelling them to the top of the IPL table 2024.
With the playoffs quickly approaching, the loss, by an overwhelming 98-run margin, has knocked LSG out of the top four.
Lucknow Super Giants 137 (Stoinis 36, Rana 3-24, Varun 3-30, Russell 2-17) were defeated by Kolkata Knight Riders 235 for 6 (Narine 81, Salt 32, Raghuvanshi 32, Naveen 3-49) by a margin of 98 runs.
With just six balls to face, Ramandeep Singh struck 25 and Sunil Narine blasted 81 off 39 deliveries. Additionally, Shreyas Iyer, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and Phil Salt also had strong innings. Because of this, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) scored 235 for 6 in their 20 overs, which was always going to be very difficult to overcome in Lucknow, one of the IPL 2024 locations with lower scoring averages.
The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) failed to establish a strong lead. KL Rahul and Marcus Stoinis put up 50 runs together at the second wicket, but even that combination moved too slowly (they needed 33 balls) to pose a significant threat to KKR. The batting collapsed rapidly once that stand was broken, with the final nine wickets falling for 67 runs as the needed rate skyrocketed.
Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy each claimed three wickets. It was two for Andre Russell. Additionally, Ramandeep recorded two catches, the first of which was among the season’s most impressive.
Narine Destroyed LSG bowlers
With 24 off the first nine balls he faced, Salt was the first to attack. However, he was out for 32 off 14 very quickly, and after that, it was the Narine show.
After hitting five fours to warm up, Narine began to pile up the runs at the end of the fourth over. She blasted a short ball from Mohsin Khan over deep square-leg, then clubbed Krunal Pandya over deep midwicket and later thrashed Yash Thakur over the square-leg boundary. He dealt almost solely in sixes during the middle overs, and by the end of his visit, he had hit seven boundaries in addition to six fours. He tried to take another six off Ravi Bishnoi, the best bowler for LSG and the only player to finish with an economy rate below 11. He holed out to long-off.
Ramandeep with a Blistering Cameo
Between overs 14 and 18, LSG enjoyed a successful stretch in which they took three wickets at a cost of just 45. KKR was on course for a massive victory because of Narine, Salt, and Raghuvanshi, with whom Narine shared a 79-run partnership. However, the minor deceleration could have provided LSG with an advantage.
In stunning fashion, Ramandeep drove the total back into enormous territory. To begin, he took a two on the leg side in front of square. Then, he hammered a six over cow corner on the second ball, blasted one over long-on on the fourth ball, ramped a four over short third ball, and concluded the innings with a full toss over midwicket. He went 2, 6, 1, 6, 4, 6, to sum up.
Not only did he score at a strike rate exceeding 400, but he also made one of the season’s greatest catches to remove Arshin Kulkarni. He made a remarkable dive to grab hold of a ball whose trajectory he did not appear to be intersecting while racing towards the boundary from point. He did this while keeping his eyes on a leading edge that had shot high into the air. Rahul, the other opener for the LSG, was dismissed by him after he made another catch at deep point.
LSG Struggled Throughout
With an almost 12-set needed rate from the outset of the innings, LSG was always going to find it difficult, considering the caliber of KKR’s attack. Mitchell Starc bowled the fourth over, which resulted in 13 runs for them. However, Narine entered the field with a five-run over, and by the end of the powerplay, the necessary rate had increased to almost 13.
LSG’s attempt to hit out resulted in quick wicket falls. They never seemed to have the upper hand in this pursuit. Rahul’s wicket caused chaos on a slow pitch, where KKR’s slower bowlers were effective.
Also Read: Kolkata Knight Riders Secure IPL Title with Stunning Manvinder Bisla Performance In 2012
KL Rahul on the Loss
The surface is still suitable to bat on in the chase, according to Rahul, but the pressure of needing to chase a mark like 236—which is “20 or 30 above par”—could lead to slides like to LSG’s.
After scoring 235, the Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed the Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday at the Ekana Stadium. After the crushing loss, LSG skipper KL Rahul called it a “poor performance overall” for his team, pointing out that the bowling had cost them the game.
It was the first time a team had scored 200 or more when batting first in seven matches in Lucknow this IPL season. Rahul claimed that KKR scored “20 or 30 runs above par” because his bowlers let them score, feeling that LSG lost their way despite their best efforts to reach the target. “You want to push hard and you lose wickets when you’re chasing a huge total. Basically, it was a bad performance all around,” Rahul remarked during the match’s post-presentation.
KKR got out to another explosive start led by Sunil Narine and Phil Salt, who helped their team score 70 points during the powerplay. This is the sixth time in 11 games this season that KKR has scored 70 points or more. The way the KKR openers approached their “young bowlers” “put a lot of pressure” on them, according to Rahul. “We’ve observed their batting. Our young bowlers just weren’t able to take the pressure that they were putting on the opposition,” he remarked.
The IPL is like this: you’ll face some really talented players, and that’s when your character is put to the test. Narine hit some really, really good shots. Furthermore, I believe that we fell short today.
“It’s all about execution once we get here [in Lucknow], and we made a mistake there. The bowlers gave it their all. For our team, though, the sooner you find out, the better. When facing strong hitters like Sunil or anyone who is striking over 200 or 250, we have committed a few errors. Our bowlers are under some pressure because of someone who has that level of intimidation.”
In response, LSG reached 70 for 1 in the eighth chase over, with Marcus Stoinis and Rahul set. But by then, the necessary run rate had increased to more over 13 runs per over, and an LSG slip started. They were dismissed for 137 with nearly four overs remaining after losing 9 for 67 in less than nine overs. Although Rahul acknowledged that the pitch was fine, he stated that LSG was likely derailed by pressure from the scoreboard.
“The wicket was excellent. It seems like a genuine wicket,” he remarked. “If you bowled hard lengths and back of a length, there was some bounce. However, nothing unusual occurred, or it didn’t appear to be a poor pitch.
“235 was probably 20 or 30 runs over par, in my opinion. Our batting effort was quite inadequate. However, it’s never easy to chase such a large score under duress.”
