Salt, Starc star in Kolkata Knight Rider’s comprehensive win over Lucknow Super Giants
Mitchell Starc finally found some success as he spearheaded a clinical bowling display for Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Sunday (April 14), which was followed by an enterprising knock from Phil Salt as Kolkata KKR registered their first win against Lucknow Super Giants. Starc’s 3 for 28 restricted LSG to 161/7 before Salt struck an unbeaten 89 off 47 balls and was involved in an unbroken 120-run stand with Shreyas Iyer to take KKR over the line with 4.2 overs to spare. It wasn’t the best of starts for IPL debutant Shamar Joseph as he ended up conceding 22 runs – the most expensive opening over of IPL 2024. The first five deliveries weren’t bad as he troubled both Phil Salt and Sunil Narine with his pace despite being hit for a four by the latter. But a drop that happened to be off a no-ball was followed by plenty of extras and a six off the last ball by Salt. Mohsin Khan became the first bowler to dismiss Narine in the powerplay this season and also bagged the wicket of Angkrish Raghuvanshi. But KKR continued to be atop the list of teams with best powerplay scoring rates this season thanks to regular boundaries from Salt. Shreyas used the DRS to get a caught-behind decision off Joseph’s bowling reversed and the bowler was unfortunate not to dismiss Salt in the same over as Arshad Khan parried the ball over the fence. Shreyas struggled a bit against pace but he stuck around and assisted Salt as they raised a half-century stand off 36 balls. Arshad was unlucky as a couple of inside edges went to the boundary. Salt got to a 26-ball fifty to help KKR past 100 in the 10th over. Having scored his first 25 runs off 28 balls, Shreyas’s strike rate went up thanks to his two fours off Joseph, who conceded 14 off his final over to finish with 0 for 47 in his maiden IPL game. Salt then finished it off quickly, hitting three fours off Thakur, a four and a six off Mohsin, and the winning boundary off Ravi Bishnoi as he ended up with 14 fours and three sixes in his whirlwind knock. First innings… A lovely straight drive by Quinton de Kock off Mitchell Starc for a four and KL Rahul’s majestic six over covers off Vaibhav Arora promised a rapid start for LSG. They did manage 49 in the powerplay but weren’t able to quite assert themselves with KKR striking at regular intervals. Vaibhav Arora ended de Kock’s stay, getting him caught at short thirdman, while LSG’s No.3 struggles continued as Deepak Hooda, who replaced Devdutt Padikkal, got out to Mitchell Starc with Ramandeep Singh taking a good catch at backward point. Rahul, who had struck at a good rate at the other end, moved into the 30s and put on a steady stand with Ayush Badoni as they took LSG to 72/2 after 10 overs. Andre Russell’s introduction in the 11th over saw Rahul execute an upper cut for a six but off the very next ball, a flat-batted pull landed in the hands of deep midwicket. Marcus Stoinis and Badoni continued to find the fence, not relenting on the attacking approach. But Stoinis fell to Varun Chakaravarthy and Badoni was dismissed by Sunil Narine in his attempt to accelerate, leaving LSG at 113/5 in 15 overs. Only five runs came off the 16th over, bowled by Varun, and the onus was on Nicholas Pooran to give LSG a positive finish. He got going with a six off Harshit Rana and followed it up with two maximums off Arora in the 18th over. A couple of fours off Harshit took LSG past 150 in the penultimate over but the bowler mixed it up well to limit the damage. Starc got Pooran to edge a wide delivery off the first ball of the final over and ended the innings with the wicket of Arshad as he completed a good bowling job from KKR. Brief scores: (Cricbuzz)
Lucknow Super Giants 161/7 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 45, KL Rahul 39; Mitchell Starc 3-28) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 162/2 in 15.4 overs (Philip Salt 89*, Shreyas Iyer 38*; Mohsin Khan 2-29) by 8 wickets.
