KKR vs LSG, Match 68 IPL 2023 Stats Review: Nicholas Pooran's heroics, LSG's dominance over KKR and other stats

A sensational batting from Nicholas Pooran, followed by an all-round bowling display from the bowlers saw Lucknow Super Giants edge past Kolkata Knight Riders by one run in a last-over thriller, despite Rinku Singh’s masterclass in match number 68 of Indian Premier League 2023 at the iconic, Eden Gardens.

The toss belonged to the host, as Nitish Rana & Co decided to field first. The ploy to open with Karan Sharma backfired for LSG, as Harshit Rana struck in the very third over to send Karan Sharma packing. Despite losing the first wicket, LSG had a very good powerplay, as the duo of Quinton de Kock and Prerak Mankad added 41 runs for the second wicket.

Right after the powerplay, young pace sensation, Vaibhav Arora, not only broke the good-going partnership by picking Prerak Mankad for 26 but also struck twice in three balls to dismiss Marcus Stoinis for a duck. A couple of overs later, the duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, dismissed Quinton de Kock (28 off 27) and Krunal Pandya (9 off 8) in the space of 3 balls, suddenly, LSG were left reeling at 73/5 in the 11^th over.  

Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni led the rescue with 74 runs stand for the sixth wicket, Ayush Badoni played an ideal foil in the partnership by scoring 25 off 21, while Nicholas Pooran rose to his second fifty of IPL 2023. Nicholas Pooran amassed a quick-fire 30-ball 58, that included four fours and five maximums. Both Ayush Badoni and Nicholas Pooran got dismissed in the span of four balls. Cameo from Krishnappa Gowtham (11 off 4) in the end helped LSG post a good total of 176/8 in 20 overs.

Chasing 177, KKR openers got off to a flier, trying to approach the target in 8 overs to pip RCB by NRR, Venkatesh Iyer and Jason Roy toyed with the potent LSG bowlers scoring 61 runs in 5.4 overs. Krishnappa Gowtham drew the first blood, as Venkatesh Iyer departed after a 15-ball 24-run cameo at the close of powerplay.

The KKR skipper, Nitish Rana, promoted himself ahead of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, but the ploy backfired for KKR too, as Ravi Bishnoi dismissed Rana for a 10-ball 8. However, Jason Roy continued to pile up runs at one end, but Krunal Pandya cleaned up Jason Roy at the end of the 10^th over, for a 28-ball 45, KKR were in trouble after a solid start, with 82/3 in 10 overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz struggled to keep going, as Yash Thakur dismissed him after scoring 15-ball 10 runs, while Andre Russell (7 off 9) was undone with an absolute peach by Ravi Bishnoi after a couple of overs. Rinku Singh turned wild at the end smashing LSG bowlers around the ground for fun. With 21 runs to win in the last over, Yash Thakur held on his nerve and defended beautifully to help LSG edge past KKR by the barest of margins. Rinku Singh remained unbeaten on 67 off 33 balls, that included 10 boundaries.

Meanwhile, let us look at the stats and numbers from match number 68 between LSG and KKR:

20 -Varun Chakravarthy has picked 20 wickets in IPL 2023, becoming the only second KKR bowler to pick 20 wickets or more in an IPL season. Sunil Narine did this is 2012,2013 and 2014 seasons.

3 -LSG has defeated KKR on all three occasions, they played so far.

101 -Ravi Bishnoi  (101)completed 100 wickets in

1 -LSG defeated KKR by a margin of one run, this is the win by the least margin in IPL at Eden Gardens. PBKS previously defeated KKR by 2 runs in 2012.

152.50 -Rinku Singh averages 102.50 in IPL 2023 while chasing, this is the most by any batter with minimum 5 innings batted. Tim David is second on the list with an average of 79.

4 -KKR became the fourth team to get eliminated in IPL 2023.

12 -LSG now has won 12 out of 15 matches while defending in IPL. They have lost two games, and one game ended with no result.

2 -Nicholas Pooran and Ayush Badoni added 74 runs for the sixth wicket, this is the second-highest sixth-wicket partnership for LSG in IPL. The same pair has previously scored 84 runs against RCB in Bangalore in 2023.