Kolkata: A crucial counter-attacking knock of 58 (30) from Nicholas Pooran helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) qualify for the Play-offs but not before surviving a Rinku Singh scare as they beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a last-over thriller in an IPL Match at the Eden Gardens on Saturday.
Pooran's fighting knock helped LSG recover from 73/5 to post a competitive 176/8. Ravi Bishnoi then bowled an impressive spell of 2/23 as LSG survived another heroic performance from Rinku Singh (67 not out of 33) to win the match by one run as Impact Player Yash Thakur defended 21 in the last over.
Chasing 177, KKR were off to a flier as Venkatesh Iyer and Jason Roy plundered 61 runs in 5.5 overs before Krishnappa Gowtham finally got LSG the breakthrough by getting rid of Iyer (24 off 15).
At the end of Powerplay. KKR were 61/1.
They suffered two further setbacks with Ravi Bishoni having captain Nitish Rana caught at extra cover off a leading edge for his 100th T20 wicket, and Krunal Pandya cleaned up Roy (45 off 28) to help the away side claw their way back into the match. KKR were 82/3 at the halfway stage.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz then went for a big one but got an outside edge to backward point off Impact Player Yash Thakur with Bishnoi taking a juggling catch. Thakur bowled a fantastic over and gave away just three.
Naveen-ul-Haq bowled another decent over, giving away just six as the equation came to 63 needed off 30 balls. Russell tried to up the scoring, cracking a straight six off Bishnoi but the LSG spinner bounced back to have Russell's off stump knocked down off the next ball.
With 56 needed off 24, Naveen bowled another good over, conceding just five. Rinku Singh finally released some pressure as he swung one over deep backward square leg for a six. But Yash Thakur bounced back to dismiss Shardul Thakur as he had him caught at deep square leg off a short ball.
KKR lost another in the over as Sunil Narine was run out trying to go for a risky second. Yash made an excellent comeback to give away just four more runs apart from that six from Rinku.
With 41 needed off 12 balls, Rinku went berserk, and hit three fours in a row, one off the outside edge, one rocketing off the middle through extra cover off Naveen and one slashed over short third man.
He then scampered through for a risky two of the next ball to bring the equation down to 27 off 8. He clobbered the next ball over deep square leg for a 110m six to bring up his fifty off just 27 balls. He swung and missed the last one as 20 runs came off the over.
With 21 needed off six, Krunal handed the ball to Impact Player Yash Thakur.
The pressure seemed to be telling on the players as Thakur bowled two wides, while Rinku initially did not get it his way.
But with 18 needed of three balls, the KKR dasher smashed the leather over the deep mid-wicket stands, and then clobbered a four by crashing it through extra cover.
But by then KKR's hopes rested only on Thakur bowling a no or a wide, with 8 needed of the last delivery. He bowled a clean one, and Rinku smacked it over long on where the fielder parried it over the ropes for a six as the home side fell agonisingly short by two runs.
Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders elected to bowl, and could have had two wickets inside the first two overs but the LSG batters got lucky. Harshit Rana beat Quinton de Kock thrice of the last three balls of the first over off which one was an edge to the keeper which no one noticed.
KKR didn't opt for the review and the South African batter survived with the Ultra Edge replays showing an edge. Karan Sharma then survived a run out chance in the next over but his luck didn't last long as Rana had him caught at short mid-wicket. In between Quinton de Kock provided some momentum with a couple of well-timed sixes.
Prerak Mankad cracked three fours off Harshit Rana in the fifth over. He then took the attack to Varun Chakaravarthy and hit a couple of fours to take LSG to 54/1 at the end of the Powerplay.
Mankad's downfall, however, came soon, as he mistimed his slash off a back-of-a-length delivery from Vaibhav Arora, who then produced a lethal bouncer to bounce out the in-form Marcus Stoinis.
KKR kept building the pressure as Sunil Narine had captain Krunal Pandya caught at deep mid-wicket. LSG trudged to 71/4 at the halfway mark.
The away side received a massive blow in the next over as Quinton de Kock (28 off 17) mistimed his heave to deep mid-wicket where Andre Russell pouched a good catch, of Varun Chakaravarthy.
KKR then brought on Suyash Sharma as their Impact Player in place of Harshit Rana in the 11th over.
Nicholas Pooran rebuilt the innings with the young Ayush Badoni as the pair brought up the 50-run stand from 36 balls.
Sunil Narine had Badoni caught at deep mid-wicket, before Pooran brought up his fifty in style by thumping a six over deep point off Shardul. He followed by smacking another six by slicing the next one over deep backward point. But Shardul bounced back to have Pooran caught at deep backward point, and then cleaned up Bishnoi.
K Gowtham then finished it off well with a six and a four off Russell in the last over as the away side garnered 13 off the over and posted 176/8. (UNI)
