Kolkata, Apr 14: Opener Phil Salt smashed a blistering 89 not out off 47 balls in carrying Kolkata Knight Riders to a comprehensive eight-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

After Mitchell Starc became the pick of KKR bowlers with his spell of 3/28 keeping LSG to a below-par 161/7, Salt blazed away from the power-play to hit 14 fours and three sixes in his unbeaten knock to complete KKR’s chase with 26 balls to spare, as the hosts’ maintained their second place in the points table by moving to eight points.

He was also supported by captain Shreyas Iyer making run-a-ball 38 not out as the duo shared a match-winning 120-run stand off 76 balls for the third wicket. For LSG, left-arm fast-bowler Mohsin Khan was the lone bright spark, picking up 2-29 in his four overs, while rest of his colleagues conceded runs aplenty, including 22 extras.

Chasing 162, Shamar Jospeh leaked 22 runs in the opening over. While Narine and Salt hit him for four and six respectively, Joseph bowled a lot of extras, including six wides and two no-balls. Narine didn’t last long as he miscued a slice off a slower ball from Mohsin Khan to be caught at point.

Phil Salt was nonchalant and ruthless at the same time in smashing Krunal Pandya for a hat-trick of boundaries in the third over to give KKR some momentum, even as Mohsin came back to force Angkrish Raghuvanshi in playing at an angled across delivery, which he could only nick behind.

Mohsin and Jospeh caused problems for Shreyas Iyer, even as Salt kept going with his attacking tempo by flaying Yash Thakur for two off-side boundaries as KKR closed the power-play at 58/2. After that, Iyer survived a caught-behind decision against Joseph on review, before Salt played a nice pick-up shot going for six, as deep square leg dropped the tough chance.

After Salt got a lucky four via an inside edge off Arshad Khan, Shreyas began to find some momentum by smashing him for two fours, apart from pulling Ravi Bishnoi for another boundary. Salt took another four off Arshad via an inside edge and reached his fifty in 26 balls by flaying a short ball off him through backward point for a boundary yet again.

Despite some mix-ups between Salt and Iyer, KKR remained in control as the former fiercely pulled Mohsin for four, followed by the latter pulling and cutting off Mohsin for a brace of boundaries. Salt made full use of Thakur’s wayward bowling by hitting three fours, before walloping Mohsin for a four and six respectively.

He finished off the chase in style by pulling Bishnoi for four to seal a comprehensive win for KKR and make April 14, 2024 a memorable Bengali New Year for their devoted home supporters by handing LSG their second consecutive defeat in the tournament.

Brief scores: Lucknow Super Giants 161/7 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 45, KL Rahul; Mitchell Starc 3-28, Andre Russell 1-16) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 162/2 in 15.4 overs (Phil Salt 89 not out, Shreyas Iyer 38 not out; Mohsin Khan 2-29) by eight wickets (IANS)

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