Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pacer Shardul Thakur bowled the joint-longest over in Indian Premier League (IPL) history as he delivered 11 balls in the 13th over of their match against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.Thakur started the over with five consecutive wides, leaving skipper Rishabh Pant baffled behind the stumps. The medium pacer was brought into the mix to tackle the presence of KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who smashed an emphatic half-century in a spirited run chase.
The Mumbai pacer eventually found the breakthrough in the final delivery of the over, as Rahane played a full toss straight into the hands of Nicholas Pooran at short covers. He wrapped up the game with a spell of 4-0-52-2, picking the dismissals of Andre Russell alongside his state mate.
Kolkata was ahead of the run rate required for so long thanks to a whirlwind start from Rahane and Sunil Narine, who made 30 off 13 balls. They raced to 90-1 in the batting power play against wayward Lucknow pace bowling.Rahane featured in another fruitful 71-run partnership with Venkatesh Iyer until Lucknow dented the chase with four quick wickets.Shardul Thakur bowled five consecutive wide balls at the start of over No. 13, but he started the slide when yet another full toss was mis-timed by Rahane, who was caught in the covers.When fast bowler Akash Deep got Iyer on 45 in the 16th over three wickets had fallen in nine balls. Then Thakur followed by taking out Andre Russell in his last over through another full toss and the odds were back in Lucknow’s favor.With Kolkata seven down, all the pressure fell on Rinku Singh but his unbeaten 38 off 15 wasn’t quite enough.Aiden Markram and Marsh flattened Kolkata with their opening stand of 99 runs off 62 balls, followed by Pooran’s blitz.Markram was undone by Harshit Rana’s full delivery that nipped back into the South African’s stumps.Marsh, who hit six fours and five sixes, and Pooran then smashed 71 off 30 balls until Marsh holed out to deep point.Pooran continued the punishment, raising his fifty off just 21 balls. He hit eight fours and seven boundaries in his unbeaten knock and leads the IPL batting charts.Lucknow’s third win was Kolkata’s third defeat.The game was rescheduled from Sunday at the request of Kolkata police due to religious festivities in the city.(With Reuters inputs)First Published: Apr 8, 2025 9:23 PM IST
