The Lucknow Super Giants became the thirds side to qualify for the play-offs in this year’s Tata IPL with a nerve-wracking one-run win against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. Chasing the 176-8 set by the Giants, the Knight Riders finished on 175-7, thanks to a scintillating effort from Rinku Singh who smashed an undefeated 67 from 33 balls (6x4, 4x6), his highest IPL score.
Needing to score quickly and keep alive the faint hope of reaching the top four in the table, the Knights came out to bat with purpose, openers Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer posting 50 in 26 balls and 61 in the powerplay. Iyer departed for 24 and until Singh’s fireworks, the innings stuttered.
Roy looked set to make inroads but was bowled by Giants skipper Krunal Pandya for 45 from 28 balls (7x4, 1x6) and at 82/3 after 10 overs, there was work to be done. A clump of wickets saw the Knights sink to 136-7 with two overs left and it looked as though it was a bridge too far with 21 needed off the final over bowled by Yash Thakur who came on as an impact player replacing Karan Sharma.
As he has done in previous matches, Singh kept the hopes of the Knights alive and although the Knights’ chances of reaching the play-offs had disappeared, his effort deserved a win. In the context of his side’s innings, it was a remarkable effort as the Knights lost 6-29 in 12 overs at one stage.
For the Giants, Ravi Bishnoi (2-23) and Thakur (2-31) were the best with the ball, Bishnoi claiming his 200th T20 career wicket in his 86th match, while Pandya and Krishnappa Gowtham took a scalp each.
Asked to bat, the Giants initially battled through their first 10 overs as they faced a disciplined Knights bowling attack. The top order struggled and at the halfway mark, 73-4 did not look threatening. Quinton de Kock looked out of sorts as he scratched 28 from 27 balls and Prerak Mankad took a while to get going before making 26 from 20 balls.
Enter Nicholas Pooran who changed the momentum of the Giants' innings with an attacking 58 from 30 balls (4x4, 5x6), finding a useful partner in Ayush Badoni (25), the pair adding a valuable 74 from 47 balls for the sixth wicket.
Eight bowlers were used by the Knights, Vaibhav Arora (2-30) including Mankad and Marcus Stoinis for a second ball duck in his third over, Shardul Thakur (2-27) and Sunil Naraine (2-28) the most successful, with Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy getting one apiece.
Pooran was named Man of the Match.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana (capt), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy. Substitues: Suyash Sharma, Mandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, N Jagadeesan, David Wiese
Lucknow Super Giants: Quinton de Kock (wk), Prerak Mankad, Krunal Pandya (capt), Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Karan Sharma, Krishnappa Gowtham, Naveen-ul-Haq, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan. Substitues: Yash Thakur, Daniel Sams, Yudhvir Singh, Deepak Hooda, Kyle Mayer