Image Credit- BCCI
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.
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 attempted to take LSG’s finest bowler, Ravi Bishnoi, for another six, but he holed out to long-off. Bishnoi was the only one to finish with an economy rate lower than 11.
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.
As if scoring at a strike rate of more than 400 wasn’t impressive enough, he also pulled off one of the catches of the season to get rid of Arshin Kulkarni.
With an over 12-set needed rate from the outset of the innings, LSG was always going to find it difficult, considering the calibre of KKR’s assault. 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.