Kolkata Knight Riders opener Sunil Narine performs a shot in the course of the Indian Premier League 2024 match against Lucknow Super Giants in Lucknow on May 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Sandeep Saxena
Sunil Narine continued his Midas contact with the bat in IPL 2024 as his blistering 39-ball 81 powered Kolkata Knight Riders to 235 for six against Lucknow Super Giants on the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on May 5.
It all began with Narine placing on a quickfire 61-run opening stand with Phil Salt after Okay.L. Rahul elected to subject.
Narine began sedately as Salt peppered LSG’s new-ball bowlers with a flurry of boundaries from the opposite finish. But quickly sufficient, the West Indian batter opened up as he thumped Mohsin Khan for 3 fours and a six within the fourth over of the sport.
The KKR opening duo raced to its sixth fifty-plus partnership earlier than Salt was caught behind off a slower one from Naveen-ul-Haq, a lot to the reduction of a packed crowd.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi too joined in on the enjoyable, with the KKR No. 3 crunching some crisp drives on the off facet.
Only Yash Thakur managed to get in a boundary-less over in PowerPlay because the customer piled on 70 runs within the opening section.
The finish of fielding restrictions did nothing to deter Narine as he took on the LSG spinners. When Krunal Pandya pitched it up, the ball was whacked over mid-wicket for an 86-metre six. The left-handed batter bought to his fifty with a fragile late-cut 4 against leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi.
The 35-year-old was brutal when LSG pacers pitched it up as he launched them over the fence with a cleared entrance foot. Marcus Stoinis was on the receiving finish of three such maximums because the West Indian pressed on.
Narine’s whirlwind knock ended on 81 after he mistimed a faster one from Bishnoi to a relieved Devdutt Padikkal – who had touched the boundary line, just a few deliveries earlier, with the ball in his hand after an analogous mishit.
Narine’s dismissal revitalised LSG as the house bowlers, aided by some good fielding, reigned in KKR’s run-rate.
But a six-ball 25 from Ramandeep Singh within the demise ensured that KKR completed on a excessive because it breached the 220-run mark for the fifth time this season.
Scoreboard
Kolkata Knight Riders: Phil Salt c Rahul b Naveen-ul-Haq 32 Sunil Narine c sub b Ravi Bishnoi 81 Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Rahul b Yudhvir Singh 32 Andre Russell c sub b Naveen-ul-Haq 12 Rinku Singh c Stoinis b Naveen-ul-Haq 16 Shreyas Iyer c Rahul b Yash Thakur 23 Ramandeep Singh not out 25 Venkatesh Iyer not out 1 Extras: (W-13) 13
Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 235
Fall of wickets: 1/61 2/140 3/167 4/171 5/200 6/224
Lucknow Super Giants bowling: Marcus Stoinis 2-0-29-0, Mohsin Khan 2-0-28-0, Naveen-ul-Haq 4-0-49-3, Yash Thakur 4-0-46-1, Krunal Pandya 2-0-26-0, Ravi Bishnoi 4-0-33-1, Yudhvir Singh 2-0-24-1.
