Lucknow Super Giants‘ Quinton de Kock had a night to remember against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the DY Patil Stadium on Wednesday. After he notched up his second IPL century – after his first one in 2016 – the South African made a stunning grab with the gloves on to dismiss KKR opener venkatesh iyer which some even feel is the best catch of the season.
Venkatesh Iyer ended his terrible IPL 2022 season with a four-ball duck handed to him by left-arm seamer Mohsin Khan and de Kock’s sharp wicket-keeping skills. The delivery from Mohsin was on a good length and didn’t swing much – but it seamed in really sharply for Venkatesh to make any moves.
The KKR opener’s feet didn’t go anywhere and he tried to play the initial line of the ball. But since the ball had moved in off the pitch, Venkatesh could only manage a thin inside edge which de Kock dived with his right hand outstretched and stunningly grabbed it just one-handed. Remarkably, also, upon falling to the ground, de Kock didn’t let the ball spill out of his mitten before nonchalantly throwing it up in the air in celebration.
You can watch this great catch from Quinton de Kock here:
Quinton de Kock can do nothing wrong tonight.What a Catch
#LSG #ipl2022 pic.twitter.com/KTmTxLA8pW
— bob the drop (@Sijaankhan78692) May 18, 2022
Quinton de Kock was awarded the Player of the Match award for his terrific century – 140* off 70 balls in a knock that included 10 fours and as many sixes. He was supported by LSG skipper KL Rahul who scored 68* off 51 balls as the pair put up 210/0 – the highest opening partnership in the IPL and the only time where both the openers have batted for the entire 20 overs.
With KKR at 9/2, it felt that it would be a comfortable win for LSG. However, KKR made an incredible resurge in the game 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. However, with 3 needed off 2 balls, Rinku mistimed one and was taken superbly by Evin Lewis, another one-handed catch. And Stoinis didn’t make any mistake on the last ball to Umesh, bowling him with a perfect yorker.
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.
