Kolkata Knight Riders were clinical, comprehensive and completely in control of match 28 of Tata IPL 2024 against Lucknow Super Giants at Eden Gardens on Sunday. From winning toss and opting to field to restricting the visitors to a subpar total of 161/7 to a blazing chase, Shreyas Iyer & co were in commanding position from the start. Mitch Starc, the most expensive player in IPL’s history, registered a stellar show of 3-28 as he demolished any comeback attempts by the LSG batters.
KL Rahul, on the other hand, looked helpless as none of the Lucknow batters were able to face the bowling attacks of the home side. Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda and Marcus Stoinis were dismissed for 10 runs or less. Only LSG captain, Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran were able to give some impetus to the visitors’ innings. But chasing down the target of 162, KKR batters did a fabulous job.
Despite cheap dismissals of Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi, KKR never looked under pressure thanks to a blazing knock by Phil Salt. The KKR opener remained unbeaten at 89 with an able partnership provided by SHreyas Iyer on the other end.
“The way we played, it was a comprehensive victory. We bowled well under pressure and then finishing off the game, it was the icing on the cake,” KKR captain said during the after-match presentation ceremony. On the other hand, KL Rahul termed today’s performance of his team as ‘a proper hammering.’