Lucknow, May 5 (IANS): Seasoned West Indies opener Sunil Narine hammered a 39-ball 81 as Kolkata Knight Riders went on to put up the highest total at the Ekana Cricket stadium, reaching 235/6 in 20 overs while batting first against Lucknow Super Giants here on Sunday.
Asked to bat first on a wicket expected to help pacers, Kolkata openers, Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, gave them a solid start as both the batters added their sixth fifty runs partnership (most in IPL 2024) in just 3.4 overs. The duo added 61 runs in just 26 balls as Salt raced to 27 off his first 11 deliveries before falling prey to Naveen-ul-Haq. Salt chased a wide one, and only got a light top edge to it to be dismissed for 32 off 14 deliveries.
Narine's carnage continued on the other end as he reached his third half-century of the season and seventh of his IPL career, off 27 balls. Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi then put on a fifty-run partnership for the second wicket, to follow the half-century opening stand as KKR reached triple figures in the ninth over.
Narine batted dangerously in the last couple of overs -- he could have been caught at long-on, but the fielder there was over-balanced and stumbled over the rope for a six. He could have been caught at short third, but the fielder couldn't quite hold on as he dived and stretched above his head and to the left for a boundary.
Eventually, he was caught on the point boundary, but through the course of a hugely destructive innings of 81 runs (4x6, 7x6) in 39 deliveries. But he already put KKR on course for something epic as Andre Russell hammered a six in his first four balls to suggest he was going to pick up exactly where Narine left off. KKR reached 155/3 in 13 overs.
The dangerous Russel got out for 12 in the nine-run 15th over of Naveen-ul-Haq, courtesy of a brilliant backward-diving catch by Krishnappa Gowtham.
Yudhvir Singh Charak, who came in as a concussion substitute after Mohsin Khan struck on his very first delivery to get rid of Raghuvanshi. Naveen-ul-Haq got his third wicket of the night when he dismissed Rinku Singh for 16 off a short-pitched delivery angling into the body. Ramandeep Singh came at number seven and belted in the death overs and propelled KKR to the highest batting first total at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.
After an underwhelming start to the death overs, Ramandeep Singh found his range in the 19th and 20th overs, pummeling 25 off 6 balls. Three of the balls he faced were hit for sixes while one was hit for four. He scored a double and a single of the other two deliveries.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 235/6 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 81, Phil Salt 32; Naveen-ul-Haq 3-49, Yudhvir Singh 1-24) against Lucknow Super Giants.