Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) skipper Krunal Pandya heaved a sight of relief after the team held its nerve to post a thrilling one-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Saturday, confirming their place in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) playoffs in the process.
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LSG managed to overcome a shaky start after being invited to bat as well as a late scare from KKR middle-order batter Rinku Singh to pull off a thrilling one-run win at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in the second game of the Saturday double-header. The win helped them go level with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on 17 points and confirm their place in the knockouts that take place next week.
“First reaction is satisfaction. We never gave up, we were put under lot of pressure but credit to the boys,” he said at the post-match presentation.
“At one stage, they were 61/1 but I’ve seen it before that at this level 2-3 tight overs and we’re in the game. And there was some grip for the spinners as well,” Krunal, who took over leadership of the side from KL Rahul halfway into the season, said after the match.
In Photos: LSG pip KKR by one run in last-ball thriller, enter playoffs
Pandya also heaped praise on Rinku, who launched an all-out assault on the LSG attack in the death overs and nearly got Kolkata over the line with an unbeaten 67 off 33 balls.
“Rinku has been special this year, every game when he’s there you can’t take it easy,” Krunal added.
A disappointing KKR skipper Nitish Rana hopes to come back stronger next season after learning lessons from a disappointing outing this year.
“The result wasn’t in our favour, but there are a lot of positives from the season. Hopefully we come back as a better team,” he said.
“You have to win back-to-back, and I feel bad since we had the ability finish games off.”
Nitish too was full of praise about Rinku’s performance.
“Looks like I have spoken Rinku all 14 times that I have held the mic after a match! I really don’t have words to define him. If he can bat that way in that situation, then he can do anything,” he said.
With inputs from PTI
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