New Delhi: A superb show by the Lucknow Super Giants pace attack led by superb efforts from Avesh Khan (3/19) and Jason Holder (3/31) helped the side clinch a clinical 75-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders at MCA Stadium in Pune on Saturday. It was an extremely forgettable day at work for Knight Riders as none of its batters except Finch, Russell and Narine could touch double figures and the side surrendered helplessly to the LSG attack. With this win, LSG now take the top spot at the points table with 16 points. With half as points as the Super Giants, KKR lay at eighth position in the table.
Chasing 177, Kolkata Knight Riders were off a poor start, losing wicketkeeper-batter Baba Indradith at the final ball of the first over without a duck after pacer Mohsin Khan dismissed him with help from Ayush Badoni. This brought captain Shreyas Iyer to the crease. Even Iyer struggled with the pace of Dushyantha Chameera and Khan and was sent packing by Chameera after being caught by Badoni, who took another great catch.
Finch tried to rebuild the innings with the new batter Nitish Rana, but he was also dismissed for a run-a-ball 14 by Jason Holder. With this, the entire top order of Knight Riders was inside the pavilion. Till the end of the powerplay, KKR's struggles with the trio of Avesh Khan, Chameera and Holder continued. They stood at 25 at the loss of three wickets at the end of six overs with Rana (2*) and Rinku Singh (1*).
The seventh over by Khan was a wicket maiden that sent back Rana for 2 off 11, bringing the danger man Andre Russell to the crease. Russell had to rebuild the innings with Rinku by his side, who had impressed with the bat in previous matches. Dre Russ, as Russell is popularly known made an immediate impact by striking LSG pacers for huge hits, including a Holder over that went for 25 runs. By the end of 10 overs, KKR stood at a sub-par 64/4, needing 113 in the last 10 overs, with Russell (35*) and Singh (5*).
The 44-run stand between the duo was finally broken in the 12th over, with spinner Ravi Bishnoi getting Singh's wicket for only 6. In the 13th over, Khan also got the danger man Russell out for 45 off 19, causing KKR to sink to 6/85. A couple of deliveries later, Anukul Roy lost his wicket to Khan as well. Sunil Narine tried to offer some resistance to the havoc wreaked by the LSG bowling line-up but was dismissed by Holder for 22 off 12 after being caught by Krunal Pandya.
With his dismissal, there was nothing really that rest of the KKR batters could do as Holder sent back Tim Southee for 0 and the final batter Harshit Rana was also run out by the duo of Badoni and Holder, bundling out the Knight Riders for 101, with that, LSG sealed the win by 75 runs. Avesh Khan (3/19) and Jason Holder (3/31) were the pick of the bowlers for Super Giants. Chameera, Mohsin Khan and Bishnoi also got a wicket each.
Fiery half-century by Quinton de Knock and a quick knock by Deepak Hooda provided Lucknow Super Giants with a total of 176/7 in the first innings against Kolkata Knight Riders, at the MCA Stadium, Pune on Saturday. De Kock smashed 50 runs off 29 balls while Hooda played a brilliant knock of 41 runs off 27 balls.
For Kolkata, Andre Russell scalped two wickets while Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, and Tim Southee settled for one each. Put to bat, Lucknow faced an early blow as they lost their skipper KL Rahul's wicket in the very first over after he was run out with only two runs on the board. Deepak Hooda joined hands with opener Quinton de Kock and changed the momentum of the game. The duo smashed 66 runs off six overs and registered their highest powerplay score of the season.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 176/7 (Quinton De Kock 50, Deepak Hooda 41, Andre Russell 2/22) and Kolkata Knight Riders 101 Andre Russell 45, Sunil Narine 22, Avesh Khan 3/19).