Skip to main content

Virat Kohli is perfect for No. 4 spot: AB de Villiers

India has struggled to find a suitable No.4 ever since Yuvraj Singh retired from cricket from | The Hindu https://ift.tt/gQTYZn4

IPL 2023: First reaction is satisfaction, says Krunal Pandya as LSG enter playoffs with one-run win over KKR

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper Krunal Pandya heaved a sight of relief after the team held its nerve to post a thrilling one-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday, confirming their place in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs in the process.

IPL 2023: Full coverage | Points table | Schedule | Results | Orange Cap | Purple Cap​

LSG managed to overcome a shaky start after being invited to bat as well as a late scare from KKR middle-order batter Rinku Singh to pull off a thrilling one-run win at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in the second game of the Saturday double-header. The win helped them go level with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on 17 points and confirm their place in the knockouts that take place next week.

“First reaction is satisfaction. We never gave up, we were put under lot of pressure but credit to the boys,” he said at the post-match presentation.

“At one stage, they were 61/1 but I’ve seen it before that at this level 2-3 tight overs and we’re in the game. And there was some grip for the spinners as well,” Krunal, who took over leadership of the side from KL Rahul halfway into the season, said after the match.

In Photos: LSG pip KKR by one run in last-ball thriller, enter playoffs

Pandya also heaped praise on Rinku, who launched an all-out assault on the LSG attack in the death overs and nearly got Kolkata over the line with an unbeaten 67 off 33 balls.

“Rinku has been special this year, every game when he’s there you can’t take it easy,” Krunal added.

A disappointing KKR skipper Nitish Rana hopes to come back stronger next season after learning lessons from a disappointing outing this year.

“The result wasn’t in our favour, but there are a lot of positives from the season. Hopefully we come back as a better team,” he said.

“You have to win back-to-back, and I feel bad since we had the ability finish games off.”

Nitish too was full of praise about Rinku’s performance.

“Looks like I have spoken Rinku all 14 times that I have held the mic after a match! I really don’t have words to define him. If he can bat that way in that situation, then he can do anything,” he said.

With inputs from PTI

Read all the Latest News, Trending NewsCricket News, Bollywood NewsIndia News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.



from Firstpost Sports Latest News https://ift.tt/oshjxIf

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Past masters of Indian badminton: Meena Shah defied norm to clinch dozen national titles before knee injury cut career short

In the history of women’s badminton in India, there have been three outstanding players who have each had the distinction of bagging the national singles title seven times in a row. The first of these was Meena Shah, who made the national crown her own between 1959 and ’65; the second was Madhumita Goswami-Bisht, who won the title in an unbroken reel of seven from 1984 to ’90, and ended up with ten singles crowns; and the third was Aparna Popat, who made it nine in a row between 1997 and 2005. Stroke artist Ami Ghia-Shah, who reached an unbelievable 15 national singles finals among the 36 summit clashes she managed in a 19-year career, has also been anointed national singles queen on seven occasions, but these were not in consecutive years. Ami won four consecutive titles from 1973 to ’76, and then again in 1979, ’80 and ’83. There is one thing that Aparna, Madhumita and Ami had in common – they have all been slim and trim during their reign at the top. Meena Shah, on the other hand