IPL 2023: Lucknow Super Giants qualify for playoffs, beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 1 run

Lucknow Super Giants registered a win against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 68th match of IPL 2023 on Saturday. In the match, KKR won the toss and opted to bowl. Coming to bat first, LSG scored 176/8 (20 overs). In response, Kolkata failed to chase the target and finished with the score of 175/7 (20 overs). In the game played at Kolkata's home ground, the Krunal Pandya-led team won by one run. With the win, Lucknow became the third team to qualify for the Playoffs.

After Gujarat Giants, Chennai Super Kings won the game and quaified for the Playoffs. Moreover, they finished the league stage to land at the second position in the points table and will now play the qualifier 1 on May 23, Tuesday. On the other hand, LSG will now face the fourth team which qualifies for the eliminator on May 24, Wednesday.

Coming to bat first, LSG kept losing wickets at regular intervals and they were 73/5 in 10.1 overs. After that, Nicholas Pooran 58 (30) and Ayush Badoni 25 (21) shared a partnership stand of 74 runs and



shifted the momentum. However, LSG suffered another batting collapse to be restricted to a total of 176 runs, before Krishnappa Gowtham played an impactful knock of 11 runs off 4 balls. For KKR, Shardul Thakur (2/27), Sunil Narine (2/28), and Vaibhav Arora (2/30) scalped two wickets each.

When it comes to the chase, Rinku Singh remained unbeaten on 67 off 33 balls while Jason Roy played a knock of 45 runs off 28 deliveries up the order but it was not enough as KKR could manage 175/7. Ravi Bishnoi (2/23) and Yash Thakur (2/31) picked up two wickets each for the Super Giants.

Lucknow Super Giants Playing XI: Quinton de Kock(w), Karan Sharma, Prerak Mankad, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya(c), Ayush Badoni, Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Mohsin Khan

Kolkata Knight Riders Playing XI: Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Jason Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Harshit Rana, Varun Chakaravarthy.