Sunil Narine’s all-round brilliance the cornerstone of KKR’s 98-run thrashing of LSG

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) deservedly climbed to the top of the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) points table. Throughout the season, the Shreyas Iyer-led outfit have shown, class, character and strength, and against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Sunday, that was exactly the story.

Sunil Narine was back to doing what he has done the best this season – produce a big knock and set the platform, whereas Harshit Rana returned after a one-match ban and gave a sign of what’s to come from him, with a three-fer.

Sunil Narine’s quickfire 81

A major reason for the Knight Riders’ success this season has been their batters — openers Phil Salt and Sunil Narine in particular. The duo have made a combined tally of 890 runs for KKR this season. That not only shows how much of a dominant force they have been for the two-time champions but also how dependable they can be at the top of the order.

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In Photos | KKR crush LSG by 98 runs in Lucknow to go top of IPL 2024 points table

On Sunday too, Salt and Narine forged 61 runs for the first wicket against Lucknow Super Giants. Things could have got even worse for LSG had it not been for a thick top edge off Salt’s bat that flew to the hands of KL Rahul off Naveen-ul-Haq’s bowling in the fifth over. That was a wicket Lucknow desperately needed given the exploits the England cricketer has produced with the bat in IPL previously.

Like a Nawab in the City of Nawabs 🤌#LSGvKKR #TATAIPL #IPLonJioCinema #IPLinBengali pic.twitter.com/p4wuXfLR0T

— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) May 5, 2024

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However, Narine was still out there and unperturbed. Between the fifth ball of the third over and the fourth ball of the fourth, Narine was in command. The bowlers (Naveen and Mohsin) had no answer as to how to get rid of the West Indian. Mohsin, in the fourth over, bowled a couple of full length deliveries which ended up backfiring, so in the fourth ball, he changed his length. He attempted at bowling a short ball, but it just was not short enough and it was a rather fullish ball at waist-high level that the West Indian eased past the mid-on fielder for a four.

In the final ball of the fourth, Narine then pulled a short ball off Mohsin over deep backward square leg for a maximum. Twenty runs had come off that over and Mohsin paid the price for his inefficiency.

The 35-year-old went onto get to his fifty off 27 balls, with a boundary off Ravi Bishnoi past the short third fence in the 10th over. He did not stop there.  The veteran amassed three maximums off Stoinis in the 11th over. In the 12th over bowled by Bishnoi, Narine lofted, looking to go over long-on, and even though Devdutt Padikkal was stationed there to complete the catch, he stepped onto the boundary ropes and even went over it, resulting in a six for Narine and the visitors.

However, the southpaw’s luck did not remain for long. As poetic as it can be, the Trinidad-born cricketer was caught by Padikkal himself at long-on, off Bishnoi’s bowling, in the final ball of the 12th over. Narine, though, had taken KKR to 235/6.

Bowlers seal the deal

The all-rounder’s role did not end there. He would go onto bowl his full quota of four overs, giving away just 22 runs and picking the wicket of Ayush Badoni. Barring Vaibhav Arora, the rest of the KKR bowlers contributed too. The most impressive of which was pacer Rana.

Rana was handed a one-match suspension due to a Code of Conduct breach which means he missed KKR’s 24-run win over Mumbai Indians (MI). Yet, on Sunday, he returned strong figures of 3/24 from 3.1 overs. Rana was introduced towards the end of the powerplay and his first wicket, that of Rahul came post that in the eighth over. Rahul looked to go hard with the shot but eventually found Ramandeep Singh with the catch at deep point.

We are lost for words, Ramandeep 🤯🤯#LSGvKKR #TATAIPL #IPLonJioCinema #RamandeepSingh pic.twitter.com/AJ2SJKQj9m

— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) May 5, 2024

Rana, however, wasn’t utilised further till the final few overs, but when he returned, he delivered. He came back to bowl the 15th over. By then, Lucknow were already reeling at 125/7. In the 15th over against Krunal Pandya, the 22 year-old tried the short stuff. Krunal went to play the upper-cut but ended up getting a thick edge onto the hands of the wicketkeeper Salt.

LSG were already in trouble at 129/8 and it was just a matter of time before KKR wrapped things up. And Rana did exactly that, with an LBW dismissal of Bishnoi at the start of the 17th over. Lucknow were bundled out for 137, with a high-chase pressure getting the better of them.

Apart from Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy (3/30), Andre Russell (2/17), Sunil Narine (1/22) and Mitchell Starc (1/22) all produced wickets which was a perfect display of how a collective effort with the ball can get you successful results if executed well. And the fact that Kolkata got to a 200-plus total in the first place consolidated their position in the game to a much further extent.

LSG are not out of the woods just yet. They are still in the race for playoffs, albeit with the likes of CSK, SRH and DC among the chasing pack. For now, it’s time for them to forget about the permutations and focus on the basics ahead of their next game against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Wednesday.