CHENNAI: A blistering century by Quinton de Kock and an attacking half-century by KL Rahul saw Lucknow Super Giants defeat Kolkata Knight Riders in a nerve-wracking IPL 2022 match by 2 runs at the Dr DY Patil Stadium here on Wednesday.

Ablistering century by Quinton de Kock and an attacking half-century by KL Rahul saw Lucknow Super Giants defeat Kolkata Knight Riders in a nerve-wracking IPL 2022 match by 2 runs at the Dr DY Patil Stadium here on Wednesday. With this loss, KKR are out of IPL 2022 playoffs contention with 12 points against their name after all 14 league matches played. Lucknow climbed to the second spot with 18 points with its victory in the high-scoring match that had spectators on the edge of their seats.

Lucknow Super Giants' opening pair smashed several records as they remained unbeaten at the end of 20 overs with 210 runs on board. The duo scored the highest opening stand in IPL history. Quinton de Kock remained unbeaten with a swashbuckling 140. KKR showed a lot of heart and courage in their chase as they clocked 208 runs after the 20 overs, just 3 runs short of the target. Shreyas Iyer smashed 50 while Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh played quick knocks of 42 and 40 respectively. For LSG, Moshin Khan and Marcus Stoinis scalped three wickets each.

Chasing 211, KKR had a decent start as their batters played aggressively to post 60 runs after the powerplay with the loss of two wickets. Opener Venkatesh Iyer was the first to go back to the pavilion after Quinton De Kock took an absolute blinder of a catch off Mohsin Khan in the first over of the KKR's innings.

Mohsin struck again in the 3rd over and this time the victim was KKR's other opener Abhijeet Tomar. Skipper Shreyas Iyer then joined Nitish Rana on the crease and the duo started thrashing LSG bowlers all over the ground. Fifty runs came from the last three overs of the powerplay as Kolkata pulled back the momentum in their favour.

The 8th over brought an end to the blistering partnership between the KKR duo as Krishnappa Gowtham removed Nitish on 42 off 22 balls. With Nitish gone, Shreyas Iyer continued with his carnage along with Sam Billings as KKR reached 99/3 at the halfway mark of the innings with 20 runs coming in the 10th over.

Shreyas Iyer brought up his fifty in the 14th over before getting dismissed on the fourth ball of that over. Sam Billings was next to go in the 16th over off Ravi Bishnoi. Wickets kept falling for KKR as Moshin removed Andre Russell in the 17th over.

Sunil Narine and Rinku Singh then smoked 18 runs of the 18th over and the equation was then down to 38 from 12 balls for KKR. Seventeen runs came in the penultimate over as the duo smashed two sixes. With 21 needed from the last over, Rinku shifted the gears drastically as he smashed 16 runs from the first three balls courtesy of two sixes and a four. Two runs came from the fourth ball before dangerous-looking Rinku was removed by Marcus Stoinis as Evin Lewis took a great catch on the second-last ball of the match. Rinku walked back after scoring a quick 40 of 15 balls.

With 3 runs needed off the last ball of the match, Marcus Stoinis clean bowled Umesh Yadav and LSG won the thrilling encounter by 2 runs. Earlier, opting to bat first, Lucknow could not have asked for a better start as Rahul and Quinton de Kock played aggressively and gathered 83 runs in the first 10 overs.

They smashed clueless KKR bowlers all around the ground and kept on piling runs through brilliant stroke play. de Kock brought up his half-century in the 12th over of the match. The team reached the 100-run mark in the 13th over. Rahul's half-century came up in 44 balls. At the end of the 15th over, LSG were 122-0, with de Kock (69*) and KL Rahul (52*) on the crease. The 150-run partnership was reached in the 18th over of the innings.

De Kock smashed a brilliant century in 60 balls. He targeted Tim Southee for three sixes and hit Andre Russell for big four fours. de Kock was at 140* while Rahul was unbeaten at 68 at the end of 20 overs. Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants 210/0 (Quinton de Kock 140*, KL Rahul 68*; Sunil Narine 0-27) vs Kolkata Knight Riders 208/8 (Shreyas Iyer 50, Nitish Rana 42; Mohsin Khan 3-20.

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PTI

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