Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer seems to have cracked the code of winning tosses in this year's Indian Premier League as he got lucky for the second time this season in the match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Iyer kissed the coin before flipping it in the air, "Heads" called LSG skipper KL Rahul but the outcome came out to be tails in favour of the home captain much to the fans' delight at the jam-packed stadium which was covered in a sea of purple and gold.
And Iyer's team made sure to make the most of the support by delighted the capacity crowd by crushing the opposition by 8 wickets in Match 28 of IPL 2024.
The big boss Shah Rukh Khan witnessed as fantastic spectacle put on by his boys on the auspicious Bengali New Year's Day.
Opener Phil Salt, who's been in red-hot form this season, once again stole the show with his 89 not out off 47 balls. His knock was laced with a staggering 14 fours and 3 towering sixes.
Giving him support at the other end was captain Shreyas Iyer, who remained unbeaten on 38 off as many balls during the 6th-wicket partnership worth 120 runs.
KKR had earlier restricted LSG to 161 for 7 with Mitchell Starc, the most expensive IPL player in history, bagging a three-wicket haul while Andre Russell, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine grabbed one each.
Mid-Innings Update:
Kolkata Knight Riders' pace spearhead Mitchell Starc showed a glimpse of returning to his best as he finished as the pick of their bowlers on the night with figures of 4-0-28-3 against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens. After sending the Super Giants into bat, Starc led with his bowling spell to keep the visiting side to 161-7 in 20 overs.
Toss Update:
Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer has won the toss and chose to bowl first against the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2024 clash at the Eden Gardens. With the Lucknow Super Giants yet to lose to the Knight Riders, the visiting side will hope to maintain that record on Sunday.
The Knight Riders three consecutive wins in the first three games before losing to the Chennai Super Kings at the Chepauk. The Kolkata-based franchise have brought in an extra pacer in Harshit Rana in place of Anukul Roy for the clash.
The Lucknow Super Giants suffered their 2nd loss in the previous game to the Delhi Capitals after a defeat in their opening fixture before registering a hattrick of victories over Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans. The Super Giants have carried out three changes for the clash, leaving out Devdutt Padikkal, Naveen-ul-Haq, and Arshad Khan for Deepak Hooda, Shamar Joseph, and Mohsin Khan.
Playing XI of Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants:
KKR playing XI: Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy.
LSG playing XI: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul(w/c), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur.
