Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) secured their place in the IPL 2022 playoffs with a thrilling two-run victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday (May 18).
Opting to bat first, LSG piled up a gigantic 210 on the board. They didn’t lose any wicket any their innings as the opening duo of Quinton de Kock and skipper KL Rahul took the KKR attack to the cleaners. While De Kock 140* off 70 balls (10 fours and 10 sixes), Rahul stayed unbeaten on 68 off 51 balls.
Amid the carnage, Sunil Narine returned with the economical bowling figures of 0 for 27 in his stipulated four overs.
In reply, KKR lost both their openers – Venkatesh Iyer (0) and Abhijeet Tomar (4) – with just 9 runs on the board. Skipper Shreyas Iyer kept the team in the chase as he stitched 56-run stand for the third wicket with Nitish Rana (42 off 22 balls) and followed it up with a 66-run partnership with Sam Billings (46 off 34 balls).
However, once Shreyas Iyer fell for 50 off 29 balls, the Knight Riders lost the track. With Andre Russell’s wicket on 5 in the 17th over, KKR slipped to 150/6 and it seemed that they are staring at a huge defeat.
Amid the pressure situation, Rinku Singh and Sunil Narine (21* off 7 balls) rose to the occasion for KKR. The pair started dealing in boundaries to bring the chasing side back in the contest.
With 21 needed off the last over, Rinku slammed Marcus Stoinis for a boundary followed by two sixes and a couple to make the equation 3 off 2 balls. However, Stoinis dismissed him in the penultimate delivery for 15-ball 40 and then knocked over Umesh Yadav in the final ball to seal the deal for LSG.
Cricket experts on Twitter lauded Rinku Singh for his blazing knock and also congratulated LSG for securing the playoffs berth.
Here are the reactions:
