Lucknow Super Giants edge out KKR in last over thriller
Quinton de Kock’s super century and Marcus Stoinis’ two wickets in the last two balls helped Lucknow Super Giants regain second place in the IPL after registering a thrilling two-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday. Lucknow, leaving behind the loss of the previous two matches, scored a mammoth score of 210 runs in 20 overs without losing any wicket and restricted Kolkata to 208 for eight in 20 overs. It was Lucknow’s ninth win in 14 matches and has moved up to second on the table with 18 points, while Kolkata suffered their eighth loss in 14 matches and were left on 12 points.
De Kock scored an unbeaten 140 off 70 balls, the highest score of his T20 career, after getting three lives. Meanwhile, this South African wicket-keeper batsman hit 10 sixes and as many fours. Rahul played an unbeaten 68 off 51 balls with the help of three fours and four sixes. With this, Lucknow, batting first, made a huge score of 210 runs without any loss. In reply, KKR scored 208 runs for eight wickets. For them, captain Shreyas Iyer (50 off 29 balls, four fours, three sixes), Nitish Rana (42 off 22 balls, nine fours) and Sam Billings (36 off 24 balls, two fours, three sixes) scored runs. But no one was able to prolong their innings.
Rinku Singh (40 off 15 balls, two fours, four sixes) and Sunil Narine (21 not out off seven balls, three sixes) took KKR closer to victory in the last moments. When KKR needed three runs from two balls, Stoinis (3 for 23 in two overs) turned the tables on Rinku and then Umesh Yadav with the help of a brilliant catch from Evin Lewis. Mohsin Khan also took three wickets for 20 runs.
