The 66th match of IPL 2022 happened last night at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai, where the Lucknow Super Giants beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by two runs to qualify for the playoffs. LSG captain KL Rahul won the toss and elected to bat first. A 210-run partnership between Rahul and Quinton de Kock guided the Lucknow-based franchise to 210/0 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 211 runs to win, the Kolkata Knight Riders lost the wickets of their openers early, but the trio of Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana did not allow the Lucknow Super Giants to register an easy win. Their combined efforts took the game to the final over, with Rinku almost winning it for his team.
Marcus Stoinis came in to bowl the final over, with the Kolkata Knight Riders needing 21 runs off the last six balls. Rinku Singh got off to a dream start in the over as he smashed a four and two sixes off the first three balls. The equation was suddenly down to five runs from three deliveries, with Rinku taking a couple of runs on the fourth ball.
With three runs needed off two balls, it seemed like KKR would win the match. However, Marcus Stoinis dismissed Rinku Singh and Umesh Yadav off the last two balls as the Lucknow Super Giants qualified for the IPL 2022 playoffs.
KL Rahul said that he missed games like these in IPL 2022
Speaking at the post-match presentation after a close win, LSG captain KL Rahul said:
“I should probably get paid more for games like this. We had missed games like this, in this season. Haven’t been many games that have gone down to the last ball, maybe some which went to the last over. Could easily have been on the losing side and have gone back home thinking we lost due to some poor cricket.”
