Live Blog - KKR fall four runs short of LSG's 238

Too much for Rinku Singh to do. He got on strike with 19 needed in three balls. Pings the next two balls for four but the last one is crunched for six to long on.

KKR fall one boundary-hit short of the target. They finish on 234 in pursuit of 238. Rinku finishes on an unbeaten 15-ball 38. Delight in the LSG camp! Anguish in the KKR group. Rinku turned down two singles in the 19th, and didn't run off a yorker defended either. In a game of fine margins, did that turn crucial too?

Anyway, LSG are now fourth on the points table while KKR are sixth. A classic game of IPL witnessed today.

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Rinku nearly turned back the years to the afternoon game in Ahmedabad two years ago. He started the 19th with two sixes in two balls. But three dot balls thereafter (including a few singles turned down) with Avesh nailing his yorkers has left KKR needing 24 off the last over. Rinku is not on strike and the odds are stacked against KKR.

Ravi Bishnoi has 23 to defend, but Rinku is at the non-striker's.

Shardul Thakur returns for his final over in the 17th over of the chase and bowls a high-ish full toss to Russell. Scythed towards long off, and that's dented the KKR effort.

Shardul nearly gets a hat-trick (his dismissals of Rahane and Russell came off consecutive deliveries across four overs) when Harshit Rana cuts him nearly straight to third man.

KKR's win % was 70.81 before Ajinkya Rahane got out. Came down to 21.99 % with Andre Russell's wicket.

All eyes on Rinku now with 50 needed off 21 balls

12.6 - Thakur dismisses Rahane (61)
13.6 - Bishnoi dismisses Ramandeep (1)
14.6 - Avesh dismisses Raghuvanshi (5)
15.2 - Akash Deep dismisses Venkatesh (45)

And that has derailed the chase. Four different bowlers with breakthroughs as Pant rotates his bowlers.

With 61 needed off 27 balls, LSG become favourites again, although the pair of Russell and Rinku are not unfamiliar to these equations historically.

We've just seen five wides in a row for the first time in the IPL. Shardul Thakur tries to keep the balls away from Rahane by opting for a wide-line and repeats that for four more balls after the first wide.

But the extra deliveries end up helping Shardul in the end. The final ball of the over, a juicy full toss, is smacked by Rahane to cover. Silence all around the Eden and Shardul also doesn't bother celebrating. Rahane walks back for a 35-ball 61 against the run of play.

KKR need 77 in 42 balls with Ramandeep Singh joining Venkatesh Iyer.

Trivia: The other two bowlers to deliver 11-ball IPL overs are Siraj and Tushar Deshpande

Rathi was getting his googles to slide across from Venkatesh, and that has forced the batter to put his thinking cap on.

He reacts beautifully by playing a reverse sweep over short third and later clubbing a four through the off side. Ends up taking 13 to lift KKR to 149/2 in 12 overs.

The equation is now 90 off 48 balls with KKR having the advantage of a right-left batting combination to utilise the lopsided fielding dimensions.

BTW, Rahane reached his 50 in 26 balls today (his fourth fastest in IPL history) while the partnership has also gone past 50.

With lots of big hitters still in the dug out, we could have a fascinating end to this game. For what it's worth, the two highest successful IPL chases have been at the Eden Gardens.

Rahane continues with his terrific form, toying with the field by finding the gaps or by going over the infield with ease. He's been a breath of fresh air at No. 3 for KKR, making these useful contributions a habit.

From the other end, Venkatesh has been quick off the blocks too, and both have been especially menacing on Ravi Bishnoi bowling from the club house end.

With 10 overs to go, KKR need 110 more with eight wickets in hand. Rahane's on 47 off 25, Venkatesh on 24 off 13.

He adds Narine's name to his list of wickets just two balls into his spell. And right on cue, he celebrates in his unique fashion.

This time he writes something on the grass and not on his notebook. Keeps a stoic face and gets a pat on the head from his captain. Interestingly, Narine is Rathi's role model and he was almost blushing when the two met yesterday.

The perfect way for the youngster to start his spell. Narine gone for a 13-ball 30 and Venkatesh Iyer walks in at No. 4, ahead of Angkrish Raghuvanshi.

Here's hoping Rathi does not get pulled up for his celebration. Bought for INR 30 lac, he has already been fined 45 lacs (15 lac for body-contact on Priyansh Arya vs PBKS and 30 lac for the notebook celebration against MI)!

It's a terrific batting surface. The outfield is fast. And the ball is flying across the air.

Rahane and Narine have pummelled the Indian seamers in the LSG line-up to all parts, with both operating north of a 200 strike-rate.

They helped KKR reached 50 in 3.4 overs and have comfortably posted the team's best powerplay of the season.

KKR 90 for 1 in six overs with Rahane on a 15-ball 35 and Narine in a 12-ball 30. In all, the KKR top three have crunched nine fours and six sixes so far.

ESPNcricinfo's forecaster graph has also tumbled like the global stocks over the last few days. Just look at that graph! But plenty of cricket left, lots of runs to go, and here's Digvesh Rathi to kickstart the post-powerplay period.

Akash Deep has found his length and line in his second over. Despite conceding a six off de Kock to start the third over, he changes his length to good length on leg stump which angles across the stumps. De Kock survives one DRS shout for a caught-behind but next ball is adjudged LBW courtesy the available technology after umpire Holdstock originally turned the appeal down.

Akash could've also had Rahane dismissed cheaply, but the ball snuck between second slip and short third. Ends up as an expensive 14-run third over but the wicket is a positive.

Very few people playing this evening know the Eden Gardens like Akash Deep. He plays here for Bengal in the domestic circuit, but he has not found his rhythm in the first hour. A bunch of extras, some boundaries, and KKR have taken 16 off the first over.

A promising start for KKR. And it continues for the second over too, with Shardul Thakur - playing his 100th IPL game - beginning his spell by conceding a six off Quinton de Kock before Sunil Narine slashes a couple of fours over short third.

He has always had a strong legside game. After his first full season in the IPL, which was the 2020 season, bowlers figured out that they had to bowl at him outside off (or wider), keeping out of his hitting arc. In 2021, 65.79 percent of the balls Pooran received were outside his offstump. That kept him quiet in the season: he averaged 11.20 against those balls and scored at a strike rate of only 112.00. For the next two seasons, bowlers would continue to use that ploy, keeping Pooran reasonably quiet. Across the 2022 and 2023 IPL, Pooran averaged 27.36, scoring at 154.43 against balls arriving outside off. That line of attack by bowlers got him 14 out of the 19 times he was dismissed by bowlers.

Last IPL season, Pooran looked like he had an answer to that line of attack by the bowlers. Though five of his eight dismissals were to balls arriving outside off, he averaged 64.00 against that line of attack scoring runs at 186.05.

In this season Pooran has taken his game to another level. Bowlers are still bowling wide at him: no batter has faced more deliveries arriving outside off in this IPL season. As a percentage of balls faced, only Travis Head has had a higher percentage of balls bowled at him on that line. However, from the 82 balls he’s faced arriving outside off (or wider), Pooran has scored 175 runs at a strike rate of 213.41. He’s been dismissed only once. Kolkata Knight Riders tried their best keeping him quiet by bowling 19 balls out of the 36 he faced outside off. But Pooran managed 32 runs off those deliveries. With the short boundary on one side, it was always going to be a difficult task keeping Pooran quiet.

Inputs offered by Shiva Jayaraman

The LSG top three have helped post 238/3 after being asked to bat first. Nicholas Pooran put the finishing touches to the innings by mauling the bowlers. He ends the day on a 36-ball 87 with eight sixes to his name. This is his highest IPL score.

Before his assault, Mitchell Marsh crunched 81 in 48 while Aiden Markram hammered 47 in 28. And Rishabh Pant didn't even bat.

A forgettable day for the KKR bowlers. Johnson went for 15.33 per over. Rana at 12.75, Narine at 12.66 and Russell at 16. In all, we witnessed 15 sixes and 18 fours, while eight of the 20 overs went for 15 or more runs. KKR need a monster 239 runs to win.

Marsh says: "I thought 180-190 was par at the start, but having Nicky Pooran is incredible. I've played against Markram a lot, but we've got a good bond and start. We are both quite traditional but we want to go hard. We tried to play good, strong cricket shots. It's a small ground with a fast outfield. I've been watching the ball and having fun."

And it comes in the 18th over. Pooran hammers Russell through the leg-side (which this time is the longer side of the fence) and he goes back on top of the Orange Cap list. Check out the expensive 18th below

Pooran is now on 76 off 30 while LSG are 217/2 in 18 overs. Can he get to a century?!

He's loving the short-side on the leg side when the bowler is bowling from the Clubhouse End. He smacks Harshit for two sixes over the leg-side off consecutive balls to start the 17th over to get closer to regaining the orange cap from Marsh.

After getting to his fifty, he blows a kiss to his team-mates. Good thing Harshit Rana had already turned around to walk back to his mark! Harshit responds by keeping balls outside off to Pooran for the rest of the over, but damage was done early. LSG's run-rate hovering around 11.50 with their score at 193/2 in 17 overs

KKR assistant coach Ottis Gibson said yesterday that Russell is a key part of their bowling plans. He added that Russell can be expensive but he is also a partnership breaker.

That's exactly what has happened today. Rahane, looking for something different, goes to Russell in the 16th over, and he's got Marsh slicing to deep point off the second ball.

The partnership was worth 71 runs in 30 balls while Marsh walks back for a 48-ball 81, eight short of his IPL best.

Interestingly, Abdul Samad walks in at No. 4. Is this a right-left thing or is there more to it? Pant, the captain who has not been among the runs, drops himself down the order.

Most 50+ scores in first 5 inns of an IPL season
Virat Kohli 2016 50/100: 3/1
David Warner 2016 50/100:4/0
Chris Gayle 2018 50/100: 4/0
Mitchell March 2025 50/100: 4/0

Meanwhile, Nicholas Pooran has joined the party too, and he's fixing his poor IPL numbers against Narine. Slogs him into the short side for six and then tonks him over long off to get his 14th and 15th maximum of the season. Nobody else has touched double digits.

Pooran on a 16-ball 31, Marsh on 81 in 46, and LSG are 169/1 in 15 overs.

The start of Vaibhav Arora's second spell is inauspicious. Vaibhav tries to protect the short-side of the wicket and tries to bowl on the stumps, but Marsh is up for the challenge. Six and four through the leg side in a 16-run 13th over.

And that takes LSG to 138/1 in 13 overs. Marsh on a 42-ball 71 as the time out is taken - interestingly it is Abdul Samad who walks out to the middle with the LSG coaching staff to take some tips from the batters in the middle.

His elder brother won the inaugural orange cap way back in season 1 (2008).

Eighteen years later, Mitchell Marsh is turning out to be an early contender to repeat his bro. He's struck his fourth fifty in five innings this season, and is clattering anything too wide through the off side.

His half-century today comes in the 11th over off 36 balls. LSG 122/1 in 12 overs

Harshit's the leader of the fast bowling unit but he had a bad start to the game today, conceding 20 off his first seven balls.

However, his eighth ball is an offcutter that goes through Markram's body as he misses a flick. The zing bails light up and the partnership is finally broken at 99. Harshit with a flick of his palm to send the batter packing.

Markram out for 47, and he's replaced by Pooran at No. 3. So LSG now have the tournament's two highest-run scorers in the middle. A single for Pooran brings up the team hundred in 10.3 overs

Both openers have moved into the 40s, and Marsh has overtaken his team-mate Nicholas Pooran to the top of the batters' leaderboard for the season.

Both have put away any width offered by Narine and Varun, and in five overs of spin they've taken 38 runs. LSG 95/0 at the halfway stage with the perfect launching pad in place.

Markram takes Harshit Rana over third man. Marsh hammers him over his head. And a 16-run sixth over gives LSG 59 in the powerplay without losing any wicket.

This experienced overseas opening pair from LSG has dominated the rather inexperienced (even if promising) fast-bowling unit of KKR.

Narine is introduced after the powerplay, but Marsh slog sweeps him second ball over deep midwicket to keep the momentum up. The third ball is clubbed for four through the leg side too, and Narine adjusts by moving his line outside off. The time-out is taken with LSG 72/0 in seven overs.

A look at how overs six and seven went

Markram vs Varun in T20s: 8 ins, 88 runs, 4 wickets, SR 173. It promises to be an interesting battle with both feeling they can take the other down on their day.

Varun is introduced in the fifth over to find a wicket. He has been KKR's go-to spin bowler for the powerplay this season, but he's yet to take a wicket in this period. Nonetheless, an IPL 2025 powerplay economy of 8.84 ain't shabby.

He concedes three only but the partnership has blossomed to 43 in five overs.

Marsh and Markram start off quietly against Spencer Johnson, the left-arm seamer, but they've come into their own after getting comfortable with today's bounce. A full ball was pummeled over midwicket by Marsh in the second over. And in the fourth over, Markram clatters Johnson through cover, mid-on and then launches a six over midwicket.

Johnson has conceded 30 in his first two overs as LSG move to 38/0 in four overs. The two batters ask for a quick drinks break between overs as the timer counts down from 60 seconds to 0.

Vaibhav Arora was called KKR's powerplay specialist by Venkatesh after their win last game. Left-handed batters average only 9.60 against him, but against right-hand batters, like the LSG openers, he has been less effective. They score at a strike rate of 152.63 and average nearly 38 against Arora. Will he be able to turn it around?

Vaibhav's opening over hovers around a good length on off stump with a shade of movement into the batter. There's also an LBW shout vs Marsh in a quiet first over. LSG 3/0 in one over

David Miller is standing behind the main stumps and visualising his shots. He attempts a few pulls, then backs away and tries some cuts, and then walks across to the other end to repeat the process.

Miller and Nicholas Pooran will be key to LSG's chances today. They both have promising numbers against spin (although Pooran has struggled against Narine in the IPL), unlike Marsh, Markram and Pant. Since IPL 2024, Markram has fallen to spin five times in 12 innings; Marsh's strike-rate plummets from 194 to 139 against spin and Pant averages just 15.4 against leggies.

Pant, too, has started the season with his new team poorly, but there isn't too much to fret about, according to one of our writers. LSG fans, though, think otherwise, according to social media buzz.

Don't be surprised if KKR bring in Varun and/or Narine inside the powerplay itself today.

Danny Morrison croons Kemon acho, Kolkata (How are ya, Kolkata?) to get the ball rolling.

Kolkata Knight Riders win the toss and opts to bowl first. They have one change: Spencer Johnson replaces Moeen Ali.

"The wicket looks really good," Rahane says. "It hasn't been that hot in Kolkata, wickets will not change. Everybody is looking forward to this game after all our units did well in the last game.

"People are going to talk about it," he says, when asked about the openers not clicking. "Sunil and Quinny are match-winners, so we are not worried."

LSG captain Rishabh Pant says there are no changes from the side that won against Mumbai Indians on April 4. He also said the team is looking for an upward surge after beginning to find a winning formula in the tournament.

Interesting that KKR opted to bowl. In two of the other three day games we've had in IPL 2025, the team winning the toss opted to bat.

KKR bowl-first XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Spencer Johnson, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakravarthy

KKR Impact Players list: Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Luvnith Sissodia

LSG bat-first XI: Mitch Marsh, Aiden Markram, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), Ayush Badoni, Abdul Samad, David Miller, Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, Avesh Khan, Digvesh Rathi

LSG Impact Players list: Ravi Bishnoi, Prince Yadav, Shahbaz Ahmed, Matthew Breetzke, Himmat Singh

KKR's corporate headquarters are in Mumbai while LSG's is in Kolkata, in fact it is very close to the Eden Gardens. Owner Sanjiv Goenka calls the city home and this fixture has a slightly different feel for both sides. It is a game where you see lots of people from the RPSG (RP Sanjiv Goenka) organisation in attendance and they are also buoyed by the backing of the football fanatics who call themselves Mohun Bagan fans.

That's because MB and LSG are owned by the RPSG group. Goenka, Pant and a few other LSG people watched the ISL semi-final last night in the city - which MB won - and those fans will possibly shed their KKR fandom for a day to root for LSG.

Last few years, this has been a fixture that's also had some heat outside the ground. Last year, there were newspaper reports saying fans wearing Mohun Bagan jerseys weren't allowed into the stadium or were told to wear a different-colour t-shirt, although the KKR operations team denied any such claim at the time. So that's a sub-plot to keep an eye on. The social-media captions from both teams today (linked below) suggest the same too :)

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Today's pitch is two stripes to the left of centre. That means the dimensions are 57m one side, 70m on the other side. There's a decent spattering of grass, and conditions could be tricky to bat at the start.