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Kolkata Knight Riders could not pace their chase against Lucknow Super Giants, losing by just four runs in the 2025 Indian Premier League.
Digvesh Rathi shone brightly against his idol, Sunil Narine’s KKR. (AP Photo)
Kolkata Knight Riders Vs Lucknow Super Giants, IPL 2025: Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four runs in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Nicholas Pooran and Mitchell Marsh helped LSG score 238 in the first innings as players found bowling from the High Court End was relatively harder, given the dimensions of the ground – 57m to the boundary ropes on the leg side compared to 70m on the other. Spencer Johnson’s left-arm pace also helped the right-hander’s playing arcs due to the angles from over the wicket.
Aiden Markram and Mitchell Marsh took on the attack early and prompted Ajinkya Rahane to look to Varun Chakaravarthy to stem the flow of runs. The pair crossed the 50-run mark on the second ball of the last over of the powerplay from Harshit Rana. LSG reached 59 at the end of the fielding restrictions.
Marsh welcomed Sunil Narine into the game with a monster 97m six at the longer end as KKR opted to call for the timeout to break the batter’s momentum. The ploy did not work as the pair reached the halfway stage at 95.
Harshit returned and was smashed to the boundary by Markram, but the Indian pacer replied with a slower ball dug into the pitch, making the South African batter miss the ball completely. The partnership ended just one run short of the triple-digit mark.
Nicholas Pooran walked out as Marsh reached his fifty in 35 deliveries.
Rahane called back Johnson and Vaibhav as the LSG batters took a liking again to the pace coming onto the bat, smashing the ball with relative ease.
At the end of 16 overs, LSG reached 138 and took the strategic break as KKR called back Varun. Pooran and Marsh’s answer, sixes aimed at the shorter boundary to bring up their 50-run partnership off 19 balls. At the end of his quota, Varun was substituted by Anguish Raghuvanshi.
Narine returned, and he too was taken apart by Pooran, with two massive sixes. The onslaught forced Rahane to look over to Andre Russell to roll his arms over. The West Indian superstar all-rounder answered his captain’s call as Marsh found Rinku Singh in the deep. The Aussie batter was dismissed after a 48-ball 81 after a 71-run stand with Pooran.
The wicket did not bring Rishabh Pant out as out walked Abdul Samad to keep the right-left combination going. Pooran was not done, smashing Dre Russ and then attacking Harshit – bringing up his fifty in 21 balls after two massive maximums.
Russell came back to bowl his second over, the 18th one of the innings. The first two balls evaded the fielders and went for two boundaries as LSG crossed the 200-run mark.
Samad joined in on the fun, smashing Harshit for a boundary to bring up his and Pooran’s 50-run stand but was bowled on the very next delivery.
There was no Pant still as out walked David Miller, another left-hander. Pooran continued unbothered, smashing bowlers with ease. The left-hander from Trinidad and Tobago smashed his IPL-best of 87 not out to help LSG post 238/3 from their 20 overs.
At the innings break, Ravi Bishnoi came on as the impact sub for Marsh. Narine and Quinton de Kock started the chase in attacking fashion as the first two overs from Akash Deep and Shardul Thakur yielded 31 runs. Akash returned in his second over to send back De Kock, getting the KKR wicket-keeper-batter trapped in front of the wickets.
The fall of the wicket did not stop Narine from continuing his attacks, despite not getting proper contact every time, reaching the 50-run mark inside the fourth over. Rahane, who got off the mark with a silky boundary, joined in on the fun as the pair brought up their 59-run stand in 19 balls.
KKR ended the powerplay overs at 90, almost 50% over the required run rate as LSG called for the time out.
Then came the contest that everyone was looking forward to. Digvesh Singh Rathi with ball in hand and his idol Sunil Narine, albeit squaring up in front of the stumps. He tossed it and opted for the googly, against which Narine tried to force it over the ropes with brute strength, going inside out over the covers, but then Markram ran in off the boundary and completed the catch.
Despite two hefty fines for his ‘write-off’ celebrations, Dingoesh opted to sign the pitch instead.
Venkatesh Iyer walked out, and Bishnoi came into bowl. A lucky boundary off a misfield meant KKR reached the 100-run mark in 7.2 overs.
The captain and vice-captain duo continued the attack on the spinners as KKR reached 129 at the halfway stage of the innings.
Rahane brought up his fifth, his second this season, in 26 balls. Venkatesh reverse-swept Digvesh to bring up the 50-run stand from 30 balls. Pant went down clutching his back as the LSG physio came out to have a look. KKR’s 150 too came up as Shardul took over the bowling duties in the 13th over.
After Shardul bowled five back-to-back wides, Rahane chipped the 10th ball straight to cover as Pooran took a clean catch to send back the KKR skipper for a 35-ball 61.
Ramandeep Singh was promoted up the batting order but was sent back on his second ball trying to hit Bishnoi as Markram took another good catch in the deep. Angkrish hit a smart boundary but lost his wicket trying to scoop Avesh Khan as Pant took an easy catch.
KKR reached 173 at the end of 15 overs with half their side back in the dugout. Venkatesh hit a boundary and found the fielder on the very next ball as Markram took another catch off Akash Deep’s bowling.
Russell threatened to tee off and hit Akash for a huge maximum but fell to Shardul with Miller taking a brilliant catch running in from long off.
Rinku though, battled on, smashing Digvesh with the reverse sweep to bring up KKR’s 200-run mark on the penultimate ball of the 18th over.
Up stepped Avesh Khan to bowl the 19th over as Rinku took guard. He found a six and a four on the first and last balls, respectively, which left 24 runs to defend for leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi in the last over. The catch for KKR? Rinlu was off the strike.
It took until the third ball till Rinku to get the strike, and the match was well done till then. He smashed the last one over mid-wicket for a maximum as KKR lost the match by four runs.
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