TATA IPL 2024: Narine and Chakravarthy Lead Kolkata to 98-Run Win Over Lucknow
Sunil Narine, the seasoned West Indies opener, shone brightly with an impressive all-round display, smashing an 81 off just 39 balls and securing figures of 1-22. His stellar performance guided Kolkata Knight Riders to a resounding 98-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants in Match 54 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) held at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. In the current trend of consistently high scores surpassing 200, Narine's fifty propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to a formidable total of 235/6 in their allotted 20 overs, marking the highest score achieved at the Ekana Stadium.
Following his standout batting performance, Narine entered the Powerplay and delivered an impressive opening over. While a wide was conceded, only three runs were scored off the bat. Skipper K.L. Rahul and the informed Marcus Stoinis then combined for a brisk 50-run partnership off 33 deliveries. However, in the eighth over, during Harshit Rana's bowling spell, Rahul mistimed a shot and offered a straightforward catch to deep point, departing after contributing 25 runs.
LSG seemed to have the thrusters on early in their innings, making 20 off the first 11 balls. But then Ramandeep Singh tracked a high chance back from point, sprinting full tilt then diving full length to get his hands under the ball, which had come off Arshin Kulkarni's leading edge of Mitchell Starc and KKR had their first wicket.
It was an all-round effort by the KKR bowlers as LSG lost their next four wickets to Marcus Stoinis (36), Nicholas Pooran (10), Ayush Badoni (15) and Ashton Turner (16) for the addition of only 48 runs. Out of these four wickets, Russell claimed two and Chakravarty and Narine shared one each. Chakravarthy was the star with the ball as he claimed three precious wickets for just 30 runs.
Asked to bat first on a pacey wicket, Kolkata openers Phil Salt and Narine gave their team a solid start, raising their sixth fifty-run partnership -- the most in IPL 2024 -- in just 3.4 overs. The duo added 61 runs in just 26 balls as Salt raced to 27 off his first 11 deliveries before falling prey to Naveen-ul-Haq. Salt chased a wide one, and only got top edge to get dismissed for 32 off 14 deliveries.
Narine's onslaught persisted as he notched up his third half-century of the season and the seventh in his IPL career, achieving the milestone in just 27 balls. Narine unleashed a barrage of boundaries in the final few overs, surviving two dropped catches on the boundary line. However, his attacking innings of 81 runs, which included 4 fours and 7 sixes, came to an end when he was caught on the point boundary, concluding a highly destructive innings that spanned 39 deliveries.
Ramandeep Singh, entering at number seven, unleashed a ferocious assault in the death overs, propelling KKR to their highest total while batting first at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. Three of the six balls he faced were dispatched for sixes, accompanied by one four, a double, and a single, accumulating a rapid-fire 25 runs off just 6 deliveries. With the ball, KKR demonstrated clinical efficiency, dismissing the hosts for 137 runs in 16.1 overs, securing a commanding 98-run victory. Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana each claimed three wickets, while Narine and Starc contributed with one wicket apiece.
