Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) captain KL Rahul gave an absolute shout out to dismiss Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Shreyas Iyer in the 54th match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket. Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday, May 5.
Shreyas Iyer has been doing a great job for Kolkata Knight Riders as a leader and his bowling changes as well as fielding placements have been on point. While his leadership has been sensational, the same cannot be said for his batting as he has been inconsistent and has not scored runs at a good strike rate.
In the match against LSG, Shreyas Iyer came to bat at number 6 and scored just 23 runs off 15 balls, including 3 fours, before being dismissed by bowler Yash Thakur at the end of the first innings.
In the third ball of the 20th over, Yash Thakur bowled a poor cross-court short ball at 138.9 kmph on middle and leg stump. The KKR captain decided to come inside the line to place him behind the square, but he ended up gloving. The ball went towards wicketkeeper KL Rahul, who darted to his left to make an absolutely sensational one-handed catch.
Watch: KL Rahul takes stunner to dismiss Shreyas Iyer
Udta Rahul ✈️#LSGvKKR #TATAIPL #IPLonJioCine pic.twitter.com/tPHpJlBTK0
-JioCinema (@JioCinema) May 5, 2024
In the end, Kolkata Knight Riders posted 235 for 6 and opener Sunil Narine was the best player with his 81 off 39 balls. With their total, Kolkata Knight Riders equaled Mumbai Indians’ record of over 200 totals in an IPL season. . They also became the team that posted the highest total on the board against Lucknow Super Giants and at Lucknow.
Most totals from 200+ teams in an IPL season
6 – MI in 2023
6* – KKR in 2024
5 – CSK in 2023
5 – GT in 2023
5* – SSR in 2024
Highest team totals against LSG
235/6 – KKR, Lucknow, 2024*
227/2 – GT, Ahmedabad, 2023
217/7 – CSK, Chennai, 2023
212/2 – RCB, Bengaluru, 2023
210/7 – CSK, Brabourne, 2022
Highest team totals in Lucknow
235/6 – KKR vs LSG, today*
199/8 – LSG v PBKS, 2024
199/3 – RR vs LSG, 2024 (successful chase)
196/5 – LSG v RR, 2024
193/6 – LSG v DC, 2023
Earlier, speaking after winning the toss, the LSG captain, who made an impressive catch, said he is not the best reader of the field. KL Rahul said:
“We’ll bowl first. I’m not the best wicket reader, we just like to chase. The good thing is that we have been able to adapt very well and quickly to the conditions, there have been quite a few brilliant individual performances like Bueno.”
KL Rahul, who had earlier made the comment that ‘strike rate is overrated’, further spoke about the strike rate in T20s and said that a lot of things have changed in the last few years. He said:
“There has been a lot of talk about strike rate and T20 cricket has changed a lot in the last few years. He got injured in the last game, Yash Thakur replaces Mayank Yadav.”