During the clash against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League 2024 on Saturday, Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder Sunil Narine became the third cricketer to smash 400 runs and grab 15 wickets in a single season of the cash-rich league after Shane Watson and Jacque Kallis. A fantastic comeback effort by KKR spinners helped derail MI run-chase of 158 runs, restricting them to 139/8 in 16 overs in the IPL 2024 clash at Eden Gardens on Saturday and made the two-time champions the first team to reach the playoffs.
Earlier, rain played a spoilsport and the match officials decided to make it a 16-over contest.
In the 60th clash of IPL 2024 against the defending champions, Narine snapped one wicket in his three overs spell where he conceded. After taking the wicket of opener Ishan Kishan inside the powerplay, the spinner became the third player to achieve a unique feet in the history of IPL which is to complete 400 runs and take 15 wicket in a single edition of IPL. So far in the ongoing season, Narine has scored 461 runs and took 15 wickets.
The other two players to achieve this feet are Watson (472 runs, 17 wickets) for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2008 and Kallis (409 runs, 15 wickets) for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2012.
Coming to the match, it was restricted to a 16-over-per-side affair due to rain. MI opted to field first after winning the toss.
Following early loss of openers Phil Salt and Sunil Narine, valuable knocks came from Venkatesh Iyer (42 in 21 balls, with six fours and two sixes), Nitish Rana (33 in 23 balls, with four boundaries and a six), Andre Russell (24 in 14 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Rinku Singh (20 in 12 balls, with two sixes), which helped KKR reach 157/7 in the 20 overs.
Piyush Chawla (2/28) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/39) were the top bowlers for MI.
In the run-chase, Ishan Kishan (40 in 22 balls, with five fours and two sixes) and Rohit Sharma (19 in 24 balls, with a four and six) started with a fine 65-run opening stand. However, KKR soon restricted the run of flow and took wickets. Tilak Varma (32 in 17 balls, with five fours and a six) and Naman Dhir (17 in six balls, with a four and two sixes) put up a fight, but MI fell short by 18 runs, ending at 139/8 in their 20 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy (2/17) was the top bowler for KKR. Andre Russell and Harshit Rana (2/34) also did fine with the ball.
KKR is at the top of the points table, with nine wins and three losses, with 18 points. MI is at the bottom with four wins and nine losses, giving them eight points.
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