KKR vs LSG: A game that had everything imaginable and unimaginable. Fans went from ‘LSG winning this comfortably’ after putting up 210 for the loss of no wicket to ‘well, KKR still have something in them in their last league game’ to ‘are they really doing it’ to ‘Oh my god, Rinku Singh’ to ‘oh what a ridiculous catch’ to ‘a perfect yorker from Stoinis’ and seeing the Australian running around the ground with his arms wide, chest swelled.
Phew. That was some game; one for the ages.
LSG go to the second spot and will finish there if Rajasthan loses their last match. The heartbreak is for KKR, who are now knocked out of the playoff race with 12 points, but fell just 2 runs short of a miraculous run chase and keeping their hopes alive.
KL Rahul and LSG were almost made to rue the skipper’s slow start – 18 off 18 at one stage failing to make use of the powerplay – and eventual innings that ended at a strike rate of 133 over 51 balls in which he scored 68 while batting through the innings; this knock from Rahul received plenty of criticism given the flat surface of the pitch and the depth in LSG’s batting.
Quinton de kock, though, was rampant at the other end throughout his knock after he was given a life by debutant Abhijeet Tomar who dropped a dolly at third man. After that, it was almost a chanceless yet brutal innings from de Kock.
From being 26 off 18 at the end of the powerplay, de Kock accelerated and in style. He finished off the innings with three sixes off Tim Southee and four consecutive fours off Andre Russell taking LSG to 210/0 – the highest opening partnership in the IPL history.
This target of 211 felt enough with LSG’s bowling attack, then further made look bigger when KKR lost both openers for just 9 runs. Little did anybody know what was to come.
Despite losing the openers early, KKR knew they had to keep getting the boundaries and they did with skipper Shreyas Iyer leading from the front with a spectacular 50 off 29 balls, around Nitish Rana’s 42 off 22 and Sam Billings‘ 36 off 24 balls.
Andre Russell (5 off 11) didn’t come to the party today. But it was the day that Rinku Singh showed his muscle, plundering 40 off just 15 balls along with Sunil Narine’s dash of 21 runs in 7 balls.
Rinku brought it down from 38 off 12 to just 5 off 3 walloping Holder and Stoinis taking a toll on the leg side boundary. However, with 3 needed off 2 balls, Rinku mistimed one and was taken stunningly one-handed by Evin Lewis. And Stoinis didn’t make any mistake on the last ball to Umesh, bowling him with a perfect yorker.
In one of the memorable matches in the IPL, memes galore in huge numbers.
Here are some of the best memes from the thrilling KKR-LSG encounter:
What a day in IPL!#KKRvsLSG|#RinkuSingh pic.twitter.com/h6LS7wfN3R
— Tributer(fb
) (@kingkohli27) May 18, 2022
) (@kingkohli27) Only weight lifter who is scoring runs. https://t.co/zqkgQ8IN4j
— Rishabh Srivastava (@AskRishabh) May 18, 2022
Anti climax. IPL. Hands down. Baap of entertainment.
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) May 18, 2022
“Abey De Kock, thoda slow khela kar.. Log mujhe strike-rate pe pelte hain”. pic.twitter.com/2dSzQwKc9B
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) May 18, 2022
ममता दी का दिल अच्छे से टूटना चहिए था इसलिए मुकाबला क्लोज किया खिखिखी pic.twitter.com/J28rLaSJiC
— Professor ngl राजा बाबू
(@GaurangBhardwa1) Remember life is a race.. #KKRvLSG pic.twitter.com/taoXYDw2Vw
— Kamina (@bittu7664) May 18, 2022
When you realize your son spent 15 CR on the lookalike of Quinton De Kock#LSGvsKKR #IPL2022 #LSG pic.twitter.com/HalWMbAa2u
— Rajabets India
(@smileandraja) शाहरूख खान डी कॉक की बैटिंग देखते हुए pic.twitter.com/ZmR0Dg8XNB
— Professor ngl राजा बाबू
