With a commanding fifty from Quinton de Kock, the Lucknow Super Giants were able to thrash Kolkata Knight Riders for a devastating 75-run victory, putting them atop the table and guaranteeing them a spot in the IPL playoffs.
Last year's runners-up KKR are currently in danger of exiting the Indian Premier League after a dismal start. A negative run rate and a lackluster performance contributed to a catastrophic season thus far.
Despite opener Quinton de Kock's 29-ball 50, Lucknow Super Giants nearly blew a promising start against Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL match on Saturday before some lusty hit in a 30-run penultimate over off Shivam Mavi, who got them to 176 for 7.
Redeemed himself after a horrible mix-up with captain KL Rahul, who got out for 0 without facing a ball; De Kock hit four boundaries and three maximums in an innings.
With Andre Russell's heroics (45 off 19 balls), Mavi rose to the occasion to dismiss KKR for 101 in 14.3 overs and secured two critical points. Thus KKR managed to raise 16 points in their overall tally for the IPL final league standings.
KKR stayed behind
Suffering their seventh loss in 11 games, KKR maintained their eighth-place standing.
LSG restricted KKR to 25 for four, with four bowlers taking their first wickets. While Mohsin dismissed Baba Indrajith with a wicket-maiden, Chameera dismissed Shreyas Iyer with quick delivery.
The KKR skipper's anxiety while facing rapid bouncers is well-documented, and national coach Rahul Dravid was primarily concerned with one evident technical shortcoming.
De Kock took Aaron Finch's miscued pull to make KKR 23 for 3 in the first six overs. As KKR peered into the barrels, Avesh Khan used a yorker to clear up Nitish Rana.
Russell then slammed Jason Holder all around the park. After accumulating 25 over Holder, KKR reached 64-4 in 10 overs as Russell hit a maximum off Ravi Bishnoi.
A small partnership between Russell and Sunil Narine (22 off 12) helped KKR, but once Russell was out to Avesh Khan in the 13th over, KKR collapsed in 14.3 overs. Holder and Avesh each took three wickets.
LSG sides
De Kock, who had a horrendous mix-up with captain KL Rahul earlier, redeemed himself with an innings consisting of four boundaries and three maximums.
Deepak Hooda (41 off 27 balls) helped LSG get off to a good start after being called into the batting order for the first time.
As a replacement for the loss of Rahul's wicket, Hooda hit back-to-back boundaries over extra cover off Shivam Mavi, while De Kock also hit Tim Southee for two fours and a six in the third over to help his side recover.
De Kock then hammered left-arm spinner Anukul Roy for four and pacer Harshit Rana for four and two sixes to send LSG to their biggest powerplay score, 66 for one. De Kock, however, was holed out in deep only two balls after his fifty.
Hooda's 27-ball knock, which included four boundaries and two sixes, moved LSG past 100 runs before he fell to an Andre Russell delivery, his miscued pull ended in the safe hands of Shreyas Iyer. Krunal Pandya hit two fours before being caught at a deep point by Aaron Finch.
The decision to promote Ayush Badoni (15 not out off 18) backfired as the young Delhi hitter struggled to establish his form as runs dried up between the 12th to 16th over.
Marcus Stoinis (28 off 14 balls) turned the tide of the game by hitting Mavi for three sixes before holing out. The 19th over yielded 30 runs for LSG thanks to new man, Jason Holder (13 off 4 balls).
