Kolkata Knight Riders’ transfer to open with Sunil Narine continued to do wonders in the 2024 version of the IPL as the West Indies all-rounder smashed his second half-century of the season other than a century as the house crew destroyed the Punjab Kings in yet one more run-fest on the Eden Gardens on Friday, April 26. Narine and Phil Salt gave a bumper begin to the innings smashing 76 runs in the powerplay itself as the duo notched up its first century stand in the event.
The duo scripted historical past by reaching KKR’s second highest partnership breaking Gautam Gambhir-Robin Uthappa’s stand of 121 runs. The 184-run stand between Gambhir and Chris Lynn continues to be the highest for the Knight Riders. Meanwhile, the 138-run stand between Narine and Salt was additionally the highest opening stand of the season.
Highest opening partnership for KKR in IPL
184* – Gautam Gambhir, Chris Lynn vs GL (Rajkot, 2017)
138 – Sunil Narine, Phil Salt vs PBKS (Kolkata, 2024)
121 – Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa vs RR (Ahmedabad, 2014)
113 – Gautam Gambhir, Brendon McCullum vs PWI (Kolkata, 2012)
Highest opening partnership in IPL 2024
138 – Sunil Narine, Phil Salt vs PBKS, KolkataÂ
134 – Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul vs CSK, LucknowÂ
131 – Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head vs DC, Delhi
125 – Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli vs RR, Jaipur
The 70-odd scores by Salt and Narine adopted up by fast cameos from Andre Russell, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer helped the Knight Riders get to their second highest whole in IPL historical past as the house aspect notched up 261 runs on Tuesday. This was the seventh highest crew rating in IPL historical past whereas the highest at Eden Gardens as KKR broke Chennai Super Kings’ document, who piled on 235 runs in the 2023 version in the City of Joy.
Highest crew rating in IPL
287/3 – SRH vs RCB (Bengaluru, 2024)
277/3 – SRH vs MI (Hyderabad, 2024)
272/7 – KKR vs DC (Visakhapatnam, 2024)
266/7 – SRH vs DC (Delhi, 2024)
263/5 – RCB vs PWI (Bengaluru, 2013)
262/7 – RCB vs SRH (Bengaluru, 2024)
261/6 – KKR vs PBKS (Kolkata, 2024)
Highest crew rating for KKR in IPL
272/7 vs DC (Visakhapatnam, 2024)
261/6 vs PBKS (Kolkata, 2024)
245/6 vs KXIP (Indore, 2018)
The pitch is nice with the pace-on however will get troublesome with the change of tempo and the Punjab Kings batters may have their job lower out.
