Mohsin's five for 23, Rinku's 83 and a super over: KKR steal one in Lucknow
Two teams in the bottom half of the table came to Ekana on Sunday night with their playoff arithmetic almost gone. They produced one of the matches of the season.
Kolkata Knight Riders won a super over against Lucknow Super Giants after the sides had finished tied on 155. Rinku Singh, batting at six, had already saved KKR once with an unbeaten 83 from 51 balls when their innings was 73 for 6. Mohammed Shami forced the super over with a last-ball six off Kartik Tyagi. Sunil Narine then took two wickets for one run as LSG mustered a single off two balls, and Rinku finished it off the very first ball of the chase.
Mohsin's career night turned upside down
For most of the KKR innings this was Mohsin Khan's match. The left-arm seamer, who had been in and out of the LSG side, took his first five-wicket haul in T20 cricket and finished with 5 for 23 from his four overs. Tim Seifert went for a duck in the second over. Ajinkya Rahane went for 10. Rovman Powell, Cameron Green and Anukul Roy all followed. KKR were 73 for 6 before they could blink, the kind of start that usually ends the contest.
Rinku had other ideas. He had been batting through the carnage and now found a partner first in Andre Russell, then in Sunil Narine, then in Shami at the very end. Four sixes off Digvesh Rathi in the last over took him from 60 to 83 not out. KKR finished on 155 for 7. It is his highest score in T20 cricket.
Pant's chase, undone at the last ball
LSG made hard work of what should have been a routine evening. Rishabh Pant, captaining and keeping, made 42 from 38 before holing out off Narine. Nicholas Pooran went for 9 off 12. Aiden Markram top-edged off Cameron Green for 27 off 22 with Rinku running in to take the catch. The chase came down to 17 off the last over with two wickets in hand, then 7 off the last ball with Shami on strike against Tyagi. The KKR seamer dropped one short of a length, Shami cleared his front leg, and the ball sailed back over long off for six.
The super over was almost an afterthought. Narine, who had been ordinary in his first spell, came back to bowl LSG's nominated pair Pooran and Markram for one run between them. Rinku and Rovman Powell needed two off six and got them in one ball.
A season that keeps refusing to end
KKR move to eighth on the table after the win. LSG are now in the bottom with two wins from eight matches and a chase that almost came good before it slipped at the last ball. Pant's side have a tough run home from here.
Mohsin will not get many days like this back. Five wickets for 23 in a losing cause is the harshest line in cricket, and his five-for came in a match where his side scored 156 runs across the chase and the super over and still lost. For Rinku and KKR this is the kind of night that lifts a campaign that had looked done. They were 73 for 6 inside 11 overs in a match they should have lost three times. They won it in the 21st.
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