IPL-17: KKR vs PBKS | Narine, Salt take Kolkata Knight Riders to daunting total against Punjab Kings

Kolkata Knight Riders rode on the belligerence of its openers to post an imposing 261 for six against Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 26.

Put in after PBKS won the toss, KKR registered the highest ever total at the Eden Gardens in IPL history, mainly as a result of a 138-run opening partnership between Sunil Narine and Phil Salt.

The Narine-Salt combination produced a plethora of big hitting to reach 138 runs in just 63 balls and gave KKR the platform to build a mammoth total. Narine seemed to regain the imperious form that he showed against Rajasthan Royals at the same venue barely 10 days ago and struck nine fours and four sixes to score 71, his third big score in the season so far.

The KKR opening partnership flourished with some effective contribution from PBKS fielders, who dropped three catches to help the deadly duo unleash a barrage of boundaries and sixes. Narine, who earned a life at the score of 16 when he was dropped by Hardeep Brar off the bowling of Harshal Patel in the third over, used the reprieve fully to be the driving force in KKR’s run compilation.

Narine again saw the DRS working in his favor at his score of 59 when a leg-before decision by the umpire was overturned after he asked for a review, which revealed Rahul Chahar’s delivery was going over leg stump. The KKR score then stood at 111. The charmed life of the KKR opening duo continued further as Salt earned two ‘lives’ at the personal scores of 34 and 35 when dropped successively in the sixth and seventh overs before he reached 75 (37b, 6X4 , 6×6) in the 13th over when KKR had put 163 on the board.

Ventatesh Iyer (39) and Andre Russell (24) continued the run making before captain Shreyas Iyer chipped in with a breezy 28 constructed in just 10 balls to see the KKR total reach the record mark. The previous highest score here was 232 for 2, which was scored by Mumbai Indians on April 28, 2019.

Scoreboard

Kolkata Knight Riders innings: Phil Salt b Curran 75 Sunil Narine c Bairstow b Chahar 71 Venkatesh Iyer run out 39 Andre Russell c Patel b Arshdeep 24 Shreyas Iyer (c) c Rabada b Arshdeep 28 Rinku Singh c Sharma b Patel 5 Ramandeep Singh not out 6 Extras: (B -1, LB-1, NB-1, W-10) 13

Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 261

Fall of wickets: 1-138, 2-163, 3-203, 4-246, 5-253, 6-261.

Punjab Kings bowling: Sam Curran 4-0-60-1, Arshdeep Singh 4-0-45-2, Harshal Patel 3-0-48-1, Kagiso Rabada 3-0-52-0, Rahul Chahar 4-0-33-1, Harpreet Brar 2-0-21-0.