Kolkata Knight Riders grabbed the top spot in the IPL 2024 points table with a huge 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday. The victory took the Shreyas Iyer-led side to 16 points and they are one win away from booking their playoff berth. Lucknow Super Giants went down to the fifth spot with 12 points – the same as Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad – but an inferior Net Run Rate (NRR). In the other match of the day, Chennai Super Kings remained third with a win over Punjab Kings that took them to 12 points. PBKS are eighth with 8 points from 11 matches.
Sunil Narine‘s sparkling fifty and a collective effort by the bowlers fashioned Kolkata Knight Riders’ 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2024 on Sunday.
Deciding to bowl first didn’t go as per plan for LSG as KKR became the first team to cross the 200-run mark at the Ekana stadium.
Proving his worth with the willow once again, Narine (81 off 38 balls) went on a six-hitting spree, blasting seven maximums and six fours to take the visitors to 235/6.
Chasing an imposing total, LSG batters had to go from the word go but the hosts found it hard to get the big shots and were eventually bundled out for 137 in 16.1 overs.
Within the first 10 overs, LSG had lost half the side including skipper KL Rahul (25), Arshin Kulkarni (9), Deepak Hooda (5) and big hitters Marcus Stoinis (36) and Nicholas Pooran (10).
Ashton Turner hit some lusty blows and looked in mood to showcase his batting prowess but the Australian was supremely unlucky as an inside edge deflected off his boot with Varun Chakravarthy completing a caught and bowled.
With the win KKR moved to the top of the table. They have 16 points, the same as Rajasthan Royals but have played one game more.
LSG, on the other hand, dropped out of the top four to the fifth spot with 12 points from 11 games. Their Net Run Rate also took a massive hit going down from 0.094 to -0.371.
Ravindra Jadeja produced an all-round effort to help Chennai Super Kings beat Punjab Kings by 28 runs. Sent into bat, Jadeja made 43 runs off 26 balls and then picked up 3 for 20 to ensure a win for CSK.
Chasing a modest 168, PBKS faltered from the word go with only Prabhsimran Singh (30) and Shashank Singh (27) making significant contributions with the bat before being restricted to 139 for 9 in 20 overs.
Besides Jadeja, Simarjeet Singh (2/16) and Tushar Deshpande (2/35) picked up two wickets each for CSK.
Earlier, leg-spinner Rahul Chahar and pacer Harshal Patel picked up three wickets apiece as PBKS dished out a disciplined bowling effort to restrict CSK to 167 for nine.
Jadeja, skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (32) and Daryl Mitchell (30) got starts for CSK but failed to transform their knocks into big scores.
Chahar (3/23) and Harshal (4/24) stood out with the ball for PBKS, while stand-in captain Sam Curran (1/34) and Arshdeep Singh (2/42) also registered their names in the wicket-takers list.
(With PTI inputs)
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