Lucknow Super Giants’ opening pair KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock gathered the best opening partnership in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday. It was during their match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). The duo batted for full 20 overs and went all guns blazing against the KKR bowlers. De Kock’s 140 in 70 balls and Rahul’s 68 in 51 balls assisted LSG to pin a total of 210 at the scoreboard.
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“At the end of the 18th over, we sent a message saying, ‘If you guys are too tired hitting the ball hard, you can retire and we’ll send some of our big-hitters in.’ These boys, all of them, from 1 to 9 can hit the ball hard like that,” Flower said.
de Kock registered his second IPL century. During the game, the southpaw was ruthless against both pacers and spinners as he exhibited some classic shots with his willow. However, both de Kock and Rahul appeared tired towards the end of the innings, following which the LSG think-tank thought of retiring the opening pair.
At the mid-innings break, LSG head coach Andy Flower revealed that they thought about retiring out openers Rahul and de Kock after the 18th over. But Rahul and de Kock decided to continue and guided Lucknow to 210 runs. Notably, it is the third-highest partnership for any wicket in the history of this tournament.
De Kock remained unbeaten on 140 runs in 70 balls, courtesy 10 fours and 10 sixes each. He scored at a strike rate of 200, which earned him applause from all quarters. Flower was also all praise for the South African cricketer for his free-flowing shots. He said, “One boundary is a big boundary, so Quinton hitting balls like that, who’s not renowned for his big-hitting actually, that’d have given him a lot of satisfaction.”
Chasing the superlative total, at one point it appeared Kolkata will give away the two points easily. They were reduced to 132/4 in 14 overs. But in came skipper Shreyas Iyer and his breathtaking 29-ball 50 changed the trajectory of the match. Next, it was on the hard-hitting all-rounder Andre Russell to take the team home and conclude the campaign with a win. Unfortunately, KKR missed the win by a very small margin. Despite Iyer and Russell’s heroics, the squad fell short of 2 runs.
KKR is currently at the sixth spot in the points table. While the team has played all its league matches, its qualification into the playoffs will depend on Rajasthan Royals, Delhi Capitals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore.
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