#LSG

Sunil Narine rules with the bat as KKR top the IPL table

Danijones8 months ago07 mins

If 200 plus runs are the new normal of this Indian Premier League, West Indies’ Sunil Narine should also take a fair amount of credit for that. The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener’s power-hitting can dictate terms to any bowling attack and on any surface, even one that was a bit slow on Sunday at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. Continuing his good run with bat and ball, Narine showed his batting might first, striking a 39-ball 81 (6×4, 7×6) – this is his third fifty while he also has a century – to propel KKR to 235/6 before taking 1/22 to help crush Lucknow Super Giants’ hopes of any meaningful response (PTI) Continuing his good run with bat and ball, Narine showed his batting might first, striking a 39-ball 81 (6×4, 7×6) – this is his third fifty while he also has a century – to propel KKR to 235/6 before taking 1/22 to help crush Lucknow Super Giants’ hopes of any meaningful response as the hosts were dismissed for 137 in 16.1 overs. Unlock exclusive access to the latest news on India’s general elections, only on the HT App. Download Now! Download Now! The 98-run victory also lifted twice former champions KKR past Rajasthan Royals to the top of the points table. Narine has spoken about Gautam Gambhir, back as KKR mentor this season, giving him a free hand as a top-order enforcer. He was on song, hammering the LSG bowlers all around the ground. Like they have done several times this season, Narine and fellow opener Phil Salt put on a 61-run partnership off just 26 balls. It was their sixth fifty partnership this IPL. Though Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq ended Salt’s (32 – 14b, 5×4, 1×6) stay within the powerplay, chasing a wide delivery with KL Rahul taking an eye-catching diving catch, Narine powered on, hitting three sixes off Marcus Stoinis. Narine, whose century came against Rajasthan Royals before he scored 71 against Punjab Kings, completed his seventh IPL half-century off just 27 balls. After Salt’s dismissal, he joined young Angkrish Raghuvanshi (32, 26b) and the two added 79 runs together as KKR raced to 110/1 at the halfway mark. As the match progressed, Narine became more aggressive, especially in the last couple of overs. He could have been caught at long on, but the fielder overbalanced and stumbled over the rope to concede a six. He could have been caught again, this time at short third, but Stoinis couldn’t quite hold on as he dived and then tried to reach overhead, still letting the ball go for a boundary. Narine’s clean-hitting show ended on the last ball of the 12th over when he was caught on the long-off boundary. The KKR batters who followed him maintained the scoring momentum. Andre Russell’s 8-ball 12 (1×4, 1×6) and Rinku Singh’s 16 (11b, 2×4) kept the scoreboard racing before skipper Shreyas Iyer (23 – 15b, 3×4) and Ramandeep Singh’s unbeaten 23 in just six balls with the help of one four and three towering sixes helped the side cross the 200 mark. In fact, Singh’s innings was a treat to watch as he came at No.7 and belted in the death overs and guided KKR to the highest batting first total at the venue. LSG never looked in control though skipper Rahul and all-rounder Stoinis tried their best to accelerate, adding 50 for the second wicket, after losing young opener Arshin Kulkarni in the second over. Rahul fell for 25 (21 b, 3×4) while Stoinis stroked a 21-ball 36, containing four boundaries and two sixes. The two couldn’t make much of a difference as the side could only make 55/1 in the powerplay in contrast to KKR’s 70/1 in the first six overs. As the two fell before the half-way mark, the remaining LSG batters found the going tough against a disciplined bowling attack, especially Russell, who made perfect use of his bouncers to remove Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran (10). Harshit Rana (3/24) and Varun Chakravarthy (3/30) too bowled on a tight line and kept striking to leave LSG fifth on the table. “The most important thing is starting well,” Narine said at the presentation. “Support staff have been backing me. It’s been working for me, and I hope it does for the rest of the tournament. It’s about picking what you are going to do on that particular day with your strengths. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”

IPL 2024: Guarded Lucknow Super Giants look to subdue dominant Kolkata Knight Riders | Cricket News

Danijones8 months ago04 mins

Coach Langer confirms Mayank unlikely to play in rest of seasonLUCKNOW: Playing their last match on home turf, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) will have to give it their best shot to edge past Kolkata Knight Riders at the Ekana cricket stadium on Sunday. KKR are a step away from a berth in the Playoffs with 14 spots.IPL ORANGE CAP | IPL PURPLE CAP | IPL POINTS TABLEIn their previous match against Mumbai Indians, LSG were far from convincing as they had to toil hard to chase the modest 145-run target.On the batting side, LSG skipper KL Rahul is in form up the order and has played some fine knocks, smashing fifties against Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings.Allrounder Marcus Stoinis also played well against MI, scoring 62 runs, and had also played a spectacular match-winning innings against CSK. Deepak Hooda has also played some decent knocks. Wicketkeeper-batter Nicholas Pooran has not been able to make his mark in the last 2-3 matches and it is time for him to put his best foot forward. Top-order batter Quinton de Kock missed the last match against MI and he was back early to the pavilion against Rajasthan Royals. On the bowling side, LSG’s bowlers will also face a harsh test with none of them making a real dent with individual brilliance. In the last match, Mohsin Khan, Marcus Stoinis, Naveen-ul-Haq and Mayank Yadav did well against MI. LSG will now have to go without pace sensation Mayank, who had walked out of the last match against MI due to his side strain acting up.Mayank is unlikely to play in the remainder of the IPL. LSG head coach Justin Langer said, “We’ll be praying that he can play hopefully in the play-offs but I am a realist as well. It will probably be difficult for him to get up for the back end of the tournament. He’s (Mayank) had a scan. He’s got a small tear in a similar area to where his last one (injury) was. So, it’s very unfortunate. We saw the impact he had when he came back into the game.” As for KKR, their bowlers were in excellent form against MI on Friday. All the bowlers, especially spinners Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine.

IPL-17: KKR vs LSG | Kolkata Knight Riders seek home comfort against Lucknow Super Giants

Danijones8 months ago07 mins

Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders will seek home comfort in their bid to return to winning ways when they face a depleted Lucknow Super Giants in an Indian Premier League match in Kolkata on April 14. The match will be KKR’s first of the five matches at home on the trot and the Gautam Gambhir-mentored side will be fully aware this can prove decisive to clinch the play-off spot for the first time since 2021. In the points tally, nothing separates the two teams, both of whom have secured three wins each, and lost their respective last-round matches. KKR’s over-reliance on their Caribbean ageing duo of Sunil Narine and Andre Russell was exposed by defending champions Chennai Super Kings when they lost by seven wickets in their previous outing. Narine (27) and Russell (10) failed with the bat and the team, who had posted two 200-plus scores from three matches on the back of the Caribbean duo’s blazing form, could manage an under par 137/9 at Chennai. That sums up KKR’s batting that has relied on some odd fireworks and missed an anchor in the absence of Nitish Rana (finger injury), who is slated to sit out of another match. In the spotlight since the beginning of the season, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer has failed to impress and his scores give an abysmal picture — 0, 39 not out, 18 and 34. Their another designated batter Venkatesh Iyer has three single digit scores this season to go with one odd fifty against Royal Challengers Bengaluru and the team, it seems, doesn’t have a clear role for him. From batting at No. 3 in their IPL opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Iyer was seen in the finisher’s role at No. 7 and No. 5 in their last two matches. Ramandeep Singh also had a lean run after an impressive 35 against SRH. The 2022 U-19 World Cup winning Angkrish Raghuvanshi has impressed the most following his 54 against Delhi Capitals. And he will like to return among runs after failing to convert his start against CSK. The most-talked about signing Mitchell Starc’s poor form with the ball has been the talk of the town. The Aussie speed gun has an economy of 11.00 and took his first wicket of this IPL against DC after giving away 100 runs in the first two matches. Having come as Impact Subs, left-arm orthodox spinner Anukul Roy has been impressive and he would like to forge formidable partnership with Narine. While KKR will be overwhelming favourites at Eden, LSG with their unassuming approach will not give up easily, even as they will miss their pace sensation Mayank Yadav for a second successive match. Recovering from a side strain that ruled him out of their match against Gujarat Titans, Mayank is doing “good” but skipper KL Rahul has said that he may take “a couple of more games before coming back”. Mayank’s replacement Arshad Khan failed to impress, conceding at 10.73 runs over as they failed to defend 167 at home against DC last evening. Mohsin Khan, who claimed 2/34 against Punjab Kings, could be a perfect replacement but it remains to be seen if he’s fully recovered from his hamstring injury that had sidelined the left-arm pacer. The team owned by Kolkata-based industrialist Sanjeev Goenka will hope for a much better show after mustering an average 167/7 against DC on Friday. The likes of Quinton De Kock and Rahul will look to return among runs, while they also boast of a powerful line-up down the order with the likes of Marcus Stoinis and Nicholas Pooran. That they also have a formidable slow bowling lineup in Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya will pose some tough questions for KKR batters. Teams (from): Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain and Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Lucknow Super Giants: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Shamar Joseph, Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry and Mohd Arshad Khan. Match Starts: 3.30 pm.