KKR’s million-dollar comparison with LSG Shoaib Akhtar quick | Cricket
Vaibhav Arora was in fiery form for Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 68 of IPL 2023 against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday. The pacer took two wickets in four overs, conceding 30 runs as LSG managed to post 176/8 in 20 overs. Meanwhile, Nicholas Pooran scored a half-century, scoring 58 off 30 balls which included four fours and five sixes. After imposing initial dominance in the first two overs, the 25-year-old dismissed Prerak Mankad and Marcus Stoinis in his third over.
Vaibhav was the first to dismiss Mankad in the third delivery. Sending a short delivery outside off, Mankad could only miss his shot in the air, and it was caught by Harshit Rana near the point boundary, and the batsman was dismissed for 26 off 20 balls. Then in the fifth delivery, Arora sent a bouncer which Stoinis flicked through his gloves for a simple catch by Venkatesh Iyer. Stoinis was dismissed for a two-ball duck.
Taking to Twitter, LSG lauded Arora’s performance and compared it to Shoaib Akhtar’s bowling spell for KKR against Delhi Capitals in IPL 2008 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
During his lethal spell against Delhi, Akhtar dismissed Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Manoj Tiwary and AB de Villiers as Kolkata won. Meanwhile, Arora is currently KKR’s seventh-highest wicket-taker with five wickets in five matches at an economy of 9.12.
KKR have had an erratic season in general and their playoff hopes are hanging by a thread. The Nitish Rana-led side are currently seventh in the table with 12 points from 13 matches. A win against LSG will not ensure a playoff berth, they need to win by a big margin and if that happens, MI or RCB need to lose their respective matches by big margins. If KKR lose, they are out.
