Narine, Joseph amongst the wickets as KKR pinch thriller
Sunil Narine starred with the ball but then failed with the bat, along with Andre Russell, but Kolkata Knight Riders withstood Alzarri Joseph’s excellence to chase down a difficult target in a grand-stand finish in a recent game.
The Gujarat Titans set the target at 205 to win and the left-handed Narine got a one-ball “duck” while Russell managed only one. Even after Venkatesh Iyer’s top score of 83 and the captain Nitish Rana’s 45, KKR still entered the final over at the Narendra Modi Stadium requiring 29 for victory.
A single of the first ball brought Rinku Singh on strike which he then cleared the ropes with the next five deliveries from left-arm seamer Yash Dayal, to earn KKR a sensational three wicket victory.Singh finished with an unbeaten 48 off 21 deliveries and Man-of-the-March honours.
Choosing to bat first, the Titans scored an impressive 204 runs for four from their 20 overs. Vijay Shankar top-scoring with an unbeaten 63 off 24 balls and left-hander Sai Sudharsan lashing 53 off 38 balls. Sudharsan struck 3 fours and 2 sixes and put on 67 for the second wicket with Shubman Gill(39), before adding a further 35 for the fourth wicket with Shankar, who then combined with David Miller in an unbroken fifth wicket partnership of 61. Shankar smacked 4 fours and 5 sixes.
Off-spinner Narine, who last played for the West Indies four years ago, was outstanding with three for 33 from his four overs. KKR were stumbling on 28 for two in the fourth over before Venkatesh and Nitish together stabilised the run chase in a 100-run partnership.
Venkatesh strucked 8 fours and 5 sixes, while Nitish belted 4 fours and 3 sixes, both eventually succumbing to the stellar Joseph. Rashid Khan then wrecked the middle order to send four wickets tumbling for just one run before Rinku rallied the chase.
