IPL 2022, LSG vs KKR, Top Performances: Quinton de Kock, Deepak Hooda's 71-run stand, Andre Russell's all-round show 2-22 & 45, Avesh Khan's 3-19 are top performances from LSG vs KKR.
Brief Scores: Lucknow Super Giants 176/7 (de Kock 50, Hooda 41, Russell 2/22) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 101 all-out (Russell 45, Avesh Khan 3/19, Holder 3/31) by 75 runs
Player of the Match: Avesh Khan for his 3/19
Second-ranked Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) were up against eighth-ranked Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune on Saturday evening.
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field. KKR included Delhi player Harshit Rana in place of pacer Umesh Yadav, as the latter sustained calf muscle injury. For Lucknow, spinner Krishnappa Gowtham made way for seamer Avesh Khan in the playing eleven.
Lucknow Super Giants thrashed Kolkata by 75 runs
Lucknow posted a remarkable total of 176 runs on the board due to aggressive knocks of Quinton de Kock (50), Deepak Hooda (41) and Marcus Stoinis (28).
While chasing the target of 177 runs, Knight Riders lost four wickets with just 25 runs on the board within the powerplay due to menacing bowling of Lucknow pacers. Andre Russell and Sunil Narine tried to rescue the team from this perilous condition. However, the wickets of Russell and Narine proved the last straw in the chase and Lucknow bundled out Kolkata on a meagre total of 101 runs in 15 overs. Avesh Khan and Jason Holder bagged three wickets each to beat the opponents by a huge margin of 75 runs.
Let’s take a look at the top performances in the game between LSG and KKR, IPL 2022:
Quinton de Kock and Deepak Hooda added 71 runs for the second wicket
Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul was in fine form, however, in the first over of the innings, Rahul lost his wicket without even playing a single delivery. Due to the wrong call of de Kock, Rahul was left stranded in the middle of the pitch. As Rahul went for a diamond duck in the first over of the innings, Lucknow were clearly under pressure. However, next batter Deepak Hooda assisted opener Quinton de Kock well to stitch a vital partnership of 71 runs for the second wicket.
Hooda hammered two back-to-back boundaries off young seamer Shivam Mavi. His ally de Kock went one step ahead and pummeled two boundaries and one six in an over of Kiwi pacer Tim Southee. Hooda and de Kock continued to attack opponent bowlers. De Kock targeted newbie pacer Harshi Rana to launch two back-to-back sixes. He completed his fifty in just 27 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes.
At last Caribbean spinner, Sunil Narine sent de Kock back in the hut. However, his partner Hooda continued crack boundaries at will. In the thirteenth over, Russell picked the wicket of Hooda on a personal score of 41. Hooda slammed four boundaries and two sixes in his knock. Due to the explosive innings of de Kock and Hooda, Lucknow went past the 100-run mark in 12 overs.
Read More: IPL 2022, RR vs KKR, Top Performances: Rana-Rinku 66* partnership, tight bowling help KKR win
Andre Russell’s all-round show went in vain
KKR skipper Iyer brought Andre Russell into the attack in the thirteenth over of the innings and the former didn’t disappoint his captain by dismissing dangerous-looking Hooda on the fourth ball of the over. The Caribbean all-rounder bagged another wicket in his next over by sending Krunal Pandya back to the hut. Krunal Pandya could score a meagre 25 runs off 27 deliveries in his short innings.
Iyer gave the ball to Russell in death overs. Russell conceded only nine runs in the eighteenth over of the innings to arrest the run-flow of the opponent side.
While batting, Russell came in the middle when his side was in a feeble condition of 25 for four. The explosive batter tried to counter-attack against Lucknow seamers to turn the tables. He clobbered three gigantic sixes and one four off Jason Holder to garner a staggering 25 runs in an over.
The 34-year-old batter struck another six against leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi. He whacked a huge six against seamer Avesh Khan between long on and deep mid-wicket to reach close to a half-century. However, Avesh hit back by dismissing Russell on a personal score of 45. Russell used only 19 deliveries to amass 45 runs with the help of five mountainous sixes and three fours. With the wicket of Russell, the resistance of Kolkata against Lucknow reached close to its end. Russell’s two wickets and explosive knock couldn’t bail out KKR from a huge defeat against Lucknow.
Read More: IPL 2022, LSG vs DC Top Performances: Rahul 77, Hooda 52, Mohsin 4-16 take LSG to 2nd place
Avesh Khan produces another breath-taking spell
Young seamer Avesh Khan has a knack of producing match-winning bowling spells in IPL. When KKR were chasing a huge target of 177 runs, the new ball pacer of Lucknow, Mohsin Khan bowled a wicket-maiden first over to put the opponents in trouble.
Lucknow skipper Rahul called Avesh to bowl the sixth over of the innings. Avesh bowled out Nitish Rana on a personal score of just two. Later when Russell was looking in monstrous form by making 45 runs in quick time, Rahul remembered Avesh again. The 25-year-old seamer proved his captain right by dismissing Russell on the second ball of the over. With this wicket, Avesh finished the fightback of KKR against his side.
Avesh bagged another wicket by cleaning up lower-order batter Anukul Roy for a duck. Avesh has proven to be an infallible weapon for his skipper in this season of IPL. He was awarded the Player of the Match award for his match-winning spell of three wickets while conceding only 19 runs in three overs.
Read More: IPL 2022, DC vs KKR, Top Performances: Kuldeep 4-14, Mustafizur 3-18, Powell's 33* take DC home
TATA IPL 2022 Points Table
What’s to come
On Super Sunday, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) will face Royals Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 54th game of IPL 2022 at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. In the evening, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will play against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai.
Here are some of the top twitter reactions from LSG vs KKR game, TATA IPL 2022: