KOLKATA, India, CMC – Sunil Narine lashed yet another stunning half-century but found himself on the losing end as Punjab Kings chased down a world-record 262 to shock his Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets in the Indian Premier League here yesterday.
The left-handed Narine carved out 71 off just 32 deliveries, helping to inspire a dazzling 138-run opening stand with Phil Salt whose top score of 75 needed just 37 balls, propelling KKR to 261 for six off their 20 overs at Eden Gardens.
However, Englishman Jonny Bairstow then blasted a 48-ball unbeaten 108 as King completed the highest ever successful run chase in the T20 format, getting over the line with eight deliveries to spare.
Shashank Singh weighed in with a 28-ball unbeaten 68 while opener Prabhsimran Singh belted a 20-ball 54, as the contest served up 523 runs – the joint second highest match aggregate in T20s.
Amidst the carnage, Narine produced a beautiful spell, conceding only 24 runs from his four overs of off-spin and picking up the wicket of South African Rilee Rossouw for 26.
Sent in earlier, KKR received a rollocking start, Salt lashing half-dozen fours and half-dozen sixes and Narine counting nine fours and four sixes.
The 35-year-old Narine, who has been in great all-round form this season, reached his half-century off 23 balls before becoming the first casualty of the innings, holing out in the deep in the 11th over.
Narine has now scored two half-centuries and a hundred this season to move to 357 runs at an average of 44.
Salt followed soon afterwards but another West Indies star Andre Russell arrived to belt a 12- ball 24 with two fours and two sixes in a 40-run, third wicket partnership with Venkatesh Iyer (39).
Russell pulled pacer Arshdeep Singh (2-45) to square leg in the 16th over, leaving Venkatesh and captain Shreyas Iyer (28) to add another 43 for the fourth.
Facing a required run rate of 13.1, Bairstow put KKR’s bowlers to the sword, plundering eight fours and nine sixes to be the catalyst for three successive half-century stands.
He put on 93 for the first wicket with Prabhsimran, 85 for the second with Roussouw and a further 84 in an unbroken third wicket partnership with Shashank.
