Records set as McCullum beaten in final game as Kolkata coach

Quinton de Kock claimed the third highest score in Indian Premier League history as Brendon McCullum lost his last game as Kolkata Knight Riders coach before taking charge of England.

Photo: KBPHOTOGRAPHY

South African de Kock and India’s KL Rahul recorded the highest ever opening partnership in the IPL as their stand of 210 fired the Lucknow Super Giants to the playoffs with a two-run win.

De Kock scored an unbeaten 140 off 70 balls and captain Rahul scored 68 not out from 51 balls as they became the first pair to bat 20 overs in an IPL innings.

De Kock hit 10 fours and 10 sixes.

Their opening stand surpassed the previous best of 185 by Jonny Bairstow and David Warner for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2019, while De Kock also set the highest individual score this season.

Yet Kolkata fell just short of victory, losing by two runs in the final over.

Only record-holder Chris Gayle and McCullum have bettered the score of South Africa’s De Kock in an IPL innings.

Gayle hit an unbeaten 175 for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2013 and McCullum scored 158 not out for KKR in the first IPL match in 2008.

Victory sees Lucknow secure one of the four play-off places while Kolkata miss out as they can finish no higher than sixth.

McCullum was due to join up with England once Kolkata’s tournament is complete, which is now in good time before the first Test against New Zealand on 2 June.

KKR lost both their openers – Venkatesh Iyer and Abhijeet Tomar – inside their first three overs but regrouped as Nitish Rana scored 42 and captain Shreyas Iyer hit 50.

Iyer’s dismissal left Kolkata on 131-4 in the 14th over but power-hitting from Rinku Singh (40 from 15) and Sunil Narine (21 from 7) put them on the brink of an incredible chase.

With two balls left KKR needed three runs to win, with four wickets in hand, but Marcus Stoinis removed Singh and Umesh Yadav with the final two deliveries to clinch victory and finish with figures of 3-23.

– Reuters