IPL 2026: LSG vs KKR: Rinku stars as Kolkata edge LSG in Super Over
Lucknow: Kolkata Knight Riders edged Lucknow Super Giants in a tense Super Over finish in Lucknow on Sunday, surviving a major batting collapse before holding their nerve in the decider to snatch a dramatic win in a clash between two struggling sides.
KKR beat LSG in a Super Over after the match ended tied in a low-scoring thriller. Sunil Narine’s brilliant Super Over set up an easy chase for KKR. Rinku Singh starred with 83* and finished the Super Over chase with a first-ball boundary.
Mohsin Khan's exceptional five-wicket haul restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to a modest total. Angkrish Raghuvanshi's unusual dismissal for obstructing the field added to KKR's woes.
After Lucknow Super Giants walked with them toe-to-toe in regulation time, Kolkata Knight Riders found a familiar saviour in Sunil Narine to register a tight Super Over victory in their IPL match in Lucknow on Sunday.
Both Super Giants and Knight Riders ended up at 155 when a total of 40 overs were bowled, but Narine made all the difference in the Super Over.
Conjuring his years' of experience, the spinner dismissed Nicholas Pooran and Aiden Markram to limit LSG to 1 for two, which was also the lowest score in a Super Over.
KKR did not fumble and notched up the required two runs with Rinku Singh, who also had wonderful day on the field taking four catches, fittingly fetching the winning runs.
It was Rinku's well-paced 83 not out off 51 balls that worked as the catalyst for KKR total of 155 for seven earlier.
Once the Super Giants restricted KKR to that modest total, courtesy Mohsin Khan's five-for, they had an excellent chance to register a rare home victory.
But the hosts slipped against a set of spot-on Kolkata bowlers on a slow black soil pitch.
The result pushed KKR to eighth on the table with five points, while LSG plummeted to the bottom of the pile with four points.
The Super Giants have some big names in their roster - skipper Rishabh Pant, Markram, Mitchell Marsh and Pooran.
But none of them could give direction and shape to LSG's chase.
Pant (42) and Markram (31) looked to be in good touch and they added 57 runs for the second wicket after the early departure of Marsh.
But Markram fell to Cameron Green's pace-off delivery, while Pant's attempt to reverse scoop Narine, resulted in a catch to stumper Tim Seifert.
It left LSG's fate in the hands of a clutch of young domestic players like Ayush Badoni, Himmat Singh and Mukul Choudhary to see off the chase.
They whittled down the equation 17 off the last over with luck and pluck. Two successive no-balls by Kartik Tyagi reduced the equation to 12 off 5 balls.
But the pacer was allowed to continue to bowl even after two waist-high no balls because the second illegal delivery was deemed non-dangerous by the officials.
He jettisoned Himmat Singh, leaving LSG to make 8 off 3 balls, but Mohammed Shami's last-ball six pushed the match into the seasons' first Super Over.
Earlier, LSG pacer Mohsin added another sordid chapter to KKR's batting woes, taking five wickets to restrict them to 155 for seven.
Mohsin's 5 for 23, a personal best for the left-arm pacer in this format, tore apart an already struggling KKR batting unit, as he snaffled the cream wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Tim Seifert, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell and Anukul Roy.
Rinku Singh (83 not out, 51 balls) made a well-paced fifty and punished Mohammed Shami in the 19th over for 6, 4, 4 and the smoked four sixes in a row against spinner Digvesh Rathi as KKR made 43 runs in the last two overs to go past the 150-run mark.
But his fifty remained a lone act, as Mohsin firmly stood in the limelight.
His bowling ethos were rooted in simple tactics - bang the ball into the black soil pitch to gain bounce or use cutters at various pace to keep the batters guessing.
Mohsin Khan's Bowling Masterclass : Mohsin, who started the night with a wicket maiden, showed his variety across two dismissals.
He followed Rahane with a fuller ball as the batter tried to go over the covers, but the ball's trajectory forced the KKR skipper to just slice the ball up for a simple catch for Aiden Markram.
The 27-year-old stayed calm when Green, who looked comfortable out there while smashing George Linde for two successive sixes, slammed him for a huge maximum.
Two balls later, Mohsin dug one short, challenging Green (34) to go for the pull and the Australian all-rounder took the bait.
The into-the-body angle worked again as Green could only sky the ball to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Green's ouster also ended a fifth wicket alliance worth 42 with Rinku Singh.
If the existing turmoil was not enough, KKR had to bear the dejection of seeing Angkrish Raghuvanshi getting dismissed obstructing the field.
On the final ball of the fifth over from Prince Yadav, Raghuvanshi nudged one towards mid-on and set off for a single, only to be rejected by Green.
Raghuvanshi put in a dive to save himself but he came in the line of the throw from Shami.
Subsequently, third umpire Rohit Pandit accepted LSG's appeal and decided that the batter's turning radius was more than required, eventually resulting in the batter's dismissal in a rare manner.
31/3 in the powerplay: KKR’s lowest powerplay total of IPL 2026 so far
Maiden overs in IPL 2026:
Mohsin Khan: 3
Jofra Archer: 1
Akeal Hosein: 1
Varun Chakravarthy in IPL 2026:
First 3 games: 9 overs, no wickets
Last 3 games: 12 overs, 7 wickets
Next Match:
April 27, 2026, 7.30 pm IST: Delhi Capitals vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
