After Starc’s burst, Phil rubs Salt into Super Giants’ wounds
Aussie pace ace Mitchell Starc finally lived up to his high price tag with a threewicket haul and Phil Salt produced a matchwinning knock as Kolkata Knight Riders posted an eightwicket win over Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
After restricting LSG, which sought home comfort by donning citybased sister concern Mohun Bagan’s greenandmaroon colours, to 161 for seven, KKR achieved the target with 4.2 overs to spare to please its fans on Bengali New Year.
Right from the toss, the hosts were in control. Vaibhav Arora struck early to remove Quinton de Kock.
Starc bowled a shorter length and utilised the bounce well to test the LSG batters. He tasted success in the third over of his extended first spell as Ramandeep took a spectacular diving catch at point.
Captain K.L. Rahul (39) played some handsome shots to build a platform. He hammered Andre Russell for a six over point before pulling him straight to deep midwicket.
KKR spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy kept it tight and picked up a wicket apiece. Varun accounted for Marcus Stoinis while Narine removed Ayush Badoni (27).
LSG’s top rungetter Nicholas Pooran (45) tried to finish on a high. With his trademark strokeplay, he he smashed big sixes on the legside, including two in a row off Arora.
But, Pooran nicked behind off Starc, who took two for six in the final over to record his best figures of the season.
In reply, KKR had a dream start as debutant West Indian pacer Shamar Joseph leaked 22 in the first over. Mohsin Khan pegged the hosts back by dismissing Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi cheaply.
But Salt’s smart and clean hits on both sides of the wicket kept the scoreboard ticking.
Salt (89 n.o., 47b, 14x4, 3x6), who was dropped on 31 off Shamar as Arshad Khan failed to take the catch and also conceded a six, reached his second fifty. The Englishman added 120 with Shreyas Iyer (38 n.o., 38b, 6x4) at a rapid pace as KKR crossed the line comfortably.