IPL 2024 Points Table: Kolkata Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings take big steps towards playoffs. cricket news

Kolkata Knight Riders topped the IPL 2024 points table with a massive 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday. With this win, the Shreyas Iyer-led team has 16 points and is one win away from securing a place in the playoffs. Lucknow Super Giants slipped to fifth place with 12 points – the same as Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad – but had a lower net run rate (NRR). In the other match of the day, Chennai Super Kings moved to third place with a win over Punjab Kings, taking them to 12 points. PBKS is at eighth position with 8 points from 11 matches.

Sunil Narine’s brilliant half-century and the collective effort of the bowlers led Kolkata Knight Riders to a 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2024 on Sunday.

The decision to bowl first did not go as planned for LSG as KKR became the first team to cross the 200-run mark at the Ekana Stadium.

Proving his worth with the willow once again, Narine (81 off 38 balls) smashed six sixes and six fours to take the visitors to 235/6.

Chasing a mammoth target, LSG’s batsmen got the ball rolling right from the start, but the hosts found it difficult to hit big shots and were eventually bowled out for 137 in 16.1 overs.

Within the first 10 overs, LSG had lost half the team including captain KL Rahul (25), Arshin Kulkarni (9), Deepak Hooda (5) and big hitters Marcus Stoinis (36) and Nicholas Pooran (10).

Ashton Turner hit some sharp blows and looked to be in the mood to showcase his batting skills, but the Australian was extremely unlucky as an inside edge clipped his boot and Varun Chakravarthy completed a catch and was bowled.

With the win, KKR reached the top of the table. They have the same 16 points as Rajasthan Royals but have played one game more.

On the other hand, LSG slipped out of the top four to fifth place with 12 points from 11 games. His net run rate also dropped drastically and it dropped from 0.094 to -0.371.

Chennai Super Kings defeated Punjab Kings by 28 runs due to the all-round efforts of Ravindra Jadeja. Sent in to bat, Jadeja scored 43 runs off 26 balls and then took 3 wickets for 20 runs to ensure CSK’s victory.

Chasing a modest target of 168 runs, PBKS faltered from the start and only Prabhsimran Singh (30) and Shashank Singh (27) made significant contributions with the bat and could only manage 139 for 9 in 20 overs.

Apart from Jadeja, Simarjit Singh (2/16) and Tushar Deshpande (2/35) took two wickets each for CSK.

Earlier, leg spinner Rahul Chahar and pace bowler Harshal Patel took three wickets each as PBKS produced a disciplined bowling effort to restrict CSK to 167 for nine.

Jadeja, captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (32) and Daryl Mitchell (30) got the start for CSK but failed to convert their innings into big scores.

Chahar (3/23) and Harshal (4/24) stood out with the ball for PBKS, while stand-in captain Sam Curran (1/34) and Arshdeep Singh (2/42) also registered their names among the wicket-takers. List.

(With PTI inputs)