Phil Salt and Mitchell Starc ensured a memorable Bengali New Year for Kolkata Knight Riders fans at Eden Gardens by helping the hosts secure an eight-wicket victory over Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday. Starc's best figures of the season, 3 for 28, included important LSG wickets, while Salt's unbeaten 47-ball 89 led the charge in the chase. KKR now sit second on the points table. They have started a run of five straight home matches in fabulous fashion.
KKR were unable to break away despite having wickets in hand, thanks to the efforts of their spinners in the middle overs. Sunil Narine took 1 for 17 in four overs, while Varun Chakravarthy claimed 1 for 30. Combined, their eight overs went at an average of just 5.88 per over.
LSG did have two positives, with Nicholas Pooran and Mohsin Khan providing silver linings. Pooran hit four sixes and two fours in his 32-ball 45, helping LSG achieve a competitive total. Mohsin took the only two KKR wickets to fall, both in the powerplay.