The 54th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, played at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, saw Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) demolish Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by a massive 98 runs.
LSG captain KL Rahul won the toss and elected to field first. Openers Sunil Narine and Phil Salt provided KKR with a blistering start, scoring a 50-run partnership in just four overs. This marked their sixth opening partnership of 50+ runs in the tournament, the most by any team in IPL 2024. While Salt departed for a quickfire 32 off 14 deliveries, Narine continued his dominance, forging another 50-run stand with Angkrish Raghuvanshi at a rapid pace. Narine fell for a well-made 81 runs off just 39 balls.
LSG staged a brief fightback, picking up quick wickets of Andre Russell 12 (8), Raghuvanshi 32 (26), and Rinku Singh 16 (11). However, with three overs remaining, Shreyas Iyer (23 off 15) and Ramandeep Singh (25* off 6) took charge, hammering LSG bowlers and propelling KKR to a mammoth total of 235/6 in their 20 overs. This became the highest team total scored at the Lucknow stadium as well as the highest total posted against LSG.
Chasing a daunting target, the home team lost Arshin Kulkarni 9 (7) early. Marcus Stoinis and Rahul steadied the ship with a 50-run partnership. However, Rahul’s dismissal for 25 (21) triggered a collapse. The visitors capitalized effectively, picking up wickets at regular intervals. Deepak Hooda 5(3), Stoinis 36(21), Nicholas Pooran 10(8), Ayush Badoni 15(12), Ashton Turner 16(9), and Krunal Pandya 5(6) all fell cheaply, restricting LSG to a meagre 137 all out.
Varun Chakaravarthy and Harshit Rana emerged as the bowling heroes for the visitors, claiming three wickets each. Russell chipped in with two wickets, while Narine and Mitchell Starc grabbed one wicket apiece.
Sunil Narine’s all-round performance – an explosive 81 runs and a wicket for 22 runs – earned him the well-deserved Player of the Match award. He also achieved a historic feat, becoming only the third player in IPL history to score over 1500 runs and take more than 150 wickets.
With this emphatic win, KKR climbed to the top of the league table with eight wins from 11 matches. Meanwhile, LSG slipped to the fifth position after suffering their fifth defeat in the tournament.
Scorecard:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 235/6, Overs 20, Sunil Narine 81, Naveen-ul-Haq 3/49
Lucknow Super Giants: 137, Overs 16.1, Marcus Stoinis 36, Harshit Rana 3/24