Lucknow Super Kings have become the third team to secure the playoff spot in this season of Indian Premier League. The match against Kolkata Knight Riders went down the wire as Rinku Singh defended the home turf. In the end, LSG posted a 1-run win at Eden Gardens. This slim margin means that they will remain on number 3 in the IPL points table.
In current scenario, the Krunal Pandya-led squad will be facing the team that finishes off in the fourth place in eliminator match in Chennai, which is scheduled for May 24. LSG finished at the third spot due to two reasons. The first being Chennai Super Kings’ massive 77-run win over Delhi Capitals and their narrow margin victory over KKR. If they had beaten Knights by a margin of 97 runs, they could have gone above CSK.
The fact that LSG emerged as winner tonight is nothing short of dramatic turnaround. Asking to bat first, LSG lost half of its lineup in 10 overs earlier in the evening. At that juncture, LSG were 73 for five. It was stellar partnership between Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni that got LSG back on track and in the end, the visitors were able to post a challenging total against KKR.
The home team had a perfect start and they reached half-century under the powerplay. KKR were 61/1 and looked not just in the hunt but winning it to. But they lost key wickets in the middle overs. It went down the wire as Rinku Singh kept the battle going. His unbeaten knock of 67 runs got Eden on the edge. But the last over drama ended in a heartbreak for KKR as they fell short by just 1 run to secure a win against LSG. Even if they had won this match, KKR’s playoff fate was tied with the last matches of RCB and MI.
In the evening, for KKR, Shardul Thakur (2/27), Sunil Narine (2/28) and Vaibhav Arora (2/30) scalped two wickets apiece. Ravi Bishnoi (2/23) and Yash Thakur (2/31) picked up two wickets each for LSG.
(With agency inputs)
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