LSG is shaken up by Salt
After the game, KL Rahul described the defeat as a 'proper hammering', with Salt being the main reason. Salt was dismissed for a duck in Chennai in KKR's previous game and was almost out for a duck again when he clipped debutant Shamar Joseph to a short-fine leg. Fortunately, Yash Thakur dropped him, and even if he hadn't, Joseph's front-foot no-ball would've given him a reprieve anyway. After the let-off, Salt finished the first over with a six down the ground. He continued to attack during the powerplay, helping KKR stay on course despite Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi falling cheaply. In the third over, he hit Krunal Pandya for a hat-trick of boundaries, setting up a 58-run powerplay.
Salt was dropped again at deep-square leg in the seventh over when he was on 31. This perhaps made him tentative for a couple of overs. However, Salt regained momentum in the tenth over, which was bowled by Arshad Khan. Salt hit consecutive fours in the tenth over, reaching his fifty in just 26 balls and bringing up KKR's hundred within ten overs.
Salt then applied the finishing touches by striking Thakur for three fours in the 14th over, followed by a massive six over midwicket off Mohsin in the 15th. In the 16th over, he hit a four off a half-tracker from Bishnoi, which encapsulated both KKR's batting innings and LSG's bowling performance.
Shreyas Iyer, from the other end, finished unbeaten for the second time this season after a slow start. With Salt scoring fast and taking two early wickets, he did not need to take any risks.
He played aggressively only as the target approached. He hit Ravi Bishnoi and Arshad for boundaries during the middle overs, moving from 6 off 12 to finish unbeaten on 38 off 38. He was particularly strong off his hips, taking advantage of the LSG pacers' tendency to bowl too often on a leg-stump line. His unbroken partnership of 120 with Salt was the highest third-wicket stand for KKR in the IPL.
19 April 2024, 14:58