IPL 2025 | "Pooran and Marsh batted really well": Ajinkya Rahane

LSG’s Nicholas Pooran during his 87 not out against KKR at the Eden Gardens yesterday. Pic/AFP

Lucknow Super Giants stopped Kolkata Knight Riders four runs short of their mammoth total of 238 for 3 at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday but not before a scare. Launching their reply in breath-taking fashion, the Knights looked to be on course for much of the game. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane hit a 35-ball 61 and vice-captain Venkatesh Iyer 45 off 29 after Quinton de Kock and Sunil Narine provided a rollicking start.

Earlier, Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Nicholas Pooran, the top three in the LSG line-up, brought their A-game to the contest as the visitors left the Knights a mountain to climb.

LSG's Mitchell Marsh en route his 81 against KKR in Kolkata yesterday. Pic/PTI

Markram scored a 28-ball 47 while Marsh, his opening partner, helped himself to his fourth fifty in five matches as he hammered 81 off 48 with five sixes and six fours. Pooran, who came in at the fall of Markram's wicket, produced another boundary-hitting spree as he remained unbeaten on 87 off 36 deliveries and had eight sixes and seven fours.

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"They used the [longer] boundary really well. Our bowlers tried as well but Pooran and Marsh batted really well; they took their chances which came off really well for them," said Rahane. The Knights did one better when the reply began as Akash Deep and Shardul Thakur were taken to the cleaners by de Kock and Narine. Rahane too joined the party as the Powerplay produced a whopping 90 runs, KKR's second-best in the IPL.

Ajinkya Rahane

De Kock was trapped leg-before by Akash for a nine-ball 15 that had two sixes and a boundary but skipper Rahane made sure the momentum was not lost. He added 54 off 23 with Narine for the second wicket before the West Indian was lured into a wide delivery from leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi for Markram to gobble it up at long-off.

Shardul, sending down five consecutive wides in his third over, had Rahane playing a full-toss straight to Pooran at cover-point and KKR lost regular wickets from there. Rahane, Ramandeep Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Venkatesh Iyer and Andre Russell all left in consecutive overs and the asking rate kept creeping up till Rinku Singh rose to the challenge. Earlier, put into bat, Markram and Marsh, who had put together 76 off 42 at home against the Mumbai Indians last Friday, scripted another substantial opening partnership, this time for 99 off 62.

"It's a nice partnership to be involved in and as you know in T20 cricket, if you can get your team off to a good quick start, it goes a long way in terms of setting the game up'" Markram said of his partnership with Marsh.

Left-arm pacer Spencer Johnson, back in the playing XI, conceded 30 runs in his first two overs while Harshit Rana went for 16 in his first. Rana would come back five overs later to break the partnership, but it brought in the punishing Pooran to the middle and the Trinidadian joined Marsh in a brilliant run-feast.

‘Partnership breaker' Andre Russell removed Marsh in his first over but paid for it in the second as Pooran hammered him for 24. The last 10 overs produced 143 runs.

Brief scores
LSG 238-3 in 20 overs (N Pooran 87', M Marsh 81, A Markram 47; H Rana 2-51) beat KKR 234-7 in 20 overs (A Rahane 61, V Iyer 45, R Singh 38', S Narine 30; S Thakur 2-52, A Deep 2-55) by four runs