Kolkata Knight Riders thumped Lucknow Super Giants by 98 runs on Sunday (5th May). Sunil Narine scored a swashbuckling 81 off only 39 balls with the ball, and then sneaked away with 1-22 spell. Also Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy shared 3 wickets apiece to hand KKR this dominating victory.

Being invited to bat first, KKR duo Phil Salt and Sunil Narine set up things for them as their lightning 61 run stand off just 26 balls set the tone for KKR. After the departure of Salt, Narine single handedly was demolishing the LSG bowlers. Raghuvanshi was happy to play the second fiddle as Narine notched up a 27-ball fifty. After striking three sixes off Stoinis, Narine got a couple of reprieves off successive deliveries but Bishnoi eventually removed him for 81(39). At the backend of the innings, Ramandeep Singh scored a blitz 25 off 6 deliveries to post a massive 235-6 on the board.

In reply, Mitchell Starc yet again showed his class and gave KKR the first breakthrough as he got Ashish Kulkarni for 9 off 7 balls. Rahul and Stoinis strung a partnership but the former one was removed by Harshit Rana, Stoinis scored 36 off 21 before falling to KKR star all-rounder Andre Russell. After the departure of Stoinis, LSG were in all sorts of trouble. And eventually kept losing wickets at regular intervals. And ultimately could just manage 137 on the board before being all-out.

Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana were the pick of the bowlers as both of them shared 3 wickets each. While Narine sneaked away with another miserly spell, including a wicket.

With this victory, KKR now have reached to the top position after playing 11 matches so far. Sunil Narine was adjusted player of the match for his brilliant all-round show both with the bat and ball.