Kolkata Knight Riders registered their highest total in an unsuccessful chase. They scored 210/8 (Sharjah, 2020) and 210 (Brabourne, 2022) against Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals respectively, which was the highest for them so far in defeats in IPL history but against Lucknow, the Ajinkya Rahane-led side made 234 runs, which currently tops the list. The hosts were favourite to win the match after a blistering start but lost wickets at regular intervals and ended up suffering a defeat by only four runs.
For Lucknow, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran stole the show with their power-hitting. Marsh smacked 81 runs off 48 deliveries while the keeper-batter wreaked havoc, scoring an unbeaten 87 runs off 36 balls. Courtesy of their incredible performance, Lucknow posted 238 runs in the first innings.
KKR started the chase with a cluster of boundaries. Sunil Narine and Quinton de Kock controlled the tempo but the keeper-batter departed after scoring 15 runs. Narine followed suit after scoring 30 runs. After that, Ajinkya Rahane and Venkatesh Iyer managed to keep up with the momentum with their aggressive batting. The captain led by example, scoring 61 runs off 35 balls, while Venkatesh made 45.
Till the time Rahane was present on the crease, KKR seemed the favourite but since his dismissal, things changed quickly for them. Wickets at regular intervals ruined the momentum and that led to the defeat. With that, the defending champions have now lost three of their five matches so far in the tournament.
“As I said at the toss, the wicket remained good throughout the 40 overs. We gave our best, it was a great game, in the end, we were just 4 runs short. When you are chasing 230-plus, you will lose wickets in the chase. This was one of the best wickets to bat on. Batters had to take a little time to get in. The bowling attack we have, we control our middle-overs really well. Sunil (Narine) was struggling with the ball. Sunil and Varun usually dominate the middle overs, but it was tough for the bowlers today,” Rahane said after the game.