An all-round domination led by Sunil Narine’s all-round performance, helped Kolkata Knight Riders register a thumping 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday and move to the top spot on the points table. KKR’s 235 for 6 was the first time any team had scored a total in excess of 200 at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow. LSG came short in the run chase as they were bundled out for 137.

Brief Scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 235/6 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 81, Phil Salt 32; Naveen-ul-Haq 3-49) beat  Lucknow Super Giants 137 in 16.1 overs (Marcus Stoinis 36, KL Rahul 25; Harshit Rana 3-24, Varun Chakravarthy 3-30) by 98 runs

(Cricbuzz)

An all-round show by captain Kathryn Bryce helped Scotland Women make history as they qualified for their maiden T20 World Cup, beating Ireland in the first semi-final of the qualifiers on Sunday. Bryce first bagged 4 for 8 with the ball and followed that up with 35* with the bat, as Scotland restricted Ireland to 110, and chased the target down with 22 balls to spare.

The win helped Scotland book one of the two remaining slots for the World Cup proper in Bangladesh in October.

Ireland won the toss and batted first in Abu Dhabi, but the day belonged to Bryce. The right-arm medium-pacer struck twice in the first over of the day, removing both of Ireland’s openers for ducks. Ireland never recovered from those early blows, as they were then reduced to 25 for 5 at the start of the seventh over. By then, Bryce had already completed her four-wicket haul.

Leah Paul and Rebecca Stokell added 22 for the sixth wicket, but even that recovery was halted when Abtaha Maqsood got Stokell for 8. Paul and Arlene Kelly then put on a 60-stand to take Ireland’s total past hundred. Kelly hit 35 from 27 balls, while Paul was dismissed for 45 in the last over.

In the chase, Scotland openers Megan McColl and Saskia Horley started with a 49-run partnership, but McColl was the more dominant partner. Horley had scored only 10 when she fell to Kelly in the eighth over, by which time McColl had moved to 29.

That is when Bryce joined McColl for a stand worth 49. The first three overs of their union produced 27 runs, which included three boundaries from Bryce, and a six from McColl. Both batters kept Scotland ticking steadily in the middle overs, with McColl getting to her half-century in the 15th over.

But she fell immediately after to Kelly. By then, Scotland needed only 13 from the remaining 33 balls. Bryce helped Scotland finish the job, hitting a boundary to finish the proceedings.

Brief scores:
Scotland Women 112 for 2 in 16.2 overs (Megan McColl 50, Kathryn Bryce 35*; Arlene  Kelly 2-28) beat Ireland Women 110 for 9 in 20 overs  (Leah Paul 45, Arlene Kelly 35; Kathryn  Bryce 4-08, Rachel Slater 3-32, Abtaha Maqsood 1-17) by eight wickets

(Cricinfo)

Punjab Kings showcased their very best and worst selves all in the course of about 45 minutes and in the end the bad outweighed the good as they lost to Chennai Super Kings by 28 runs.

Sam Curran’s men had dominated proceedings right from the toss. A target of 168 should’ve been well within their reach, especially when they strung together a period of play where they hit six boundaries in 18 balls between the fifth and the seventh overs.

The equation at that point was 112 off 78 with eight wickets in hand. This was not the time to collapse but collapse they did, losing both their set batters, their captain and their finisher. They tumbled from 62 for 2 to 78 for 7. And CSK rose from fifth place to third place.

It all began with CSK ticking every box they shouldn’t tick in a batting innings in T20 cricket. They lost a wicket in the powerplay. Ajinkya Rahane’s poor IPL continued with his fifth score of 15 or less. Then just as they were recovering – backing up overs that went for 19 and 9 runs – they lost three wickets in 11 balls, including their top-scorer Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 off 21) and their spin-hitter Shivam Dube (0 off 1). Then just as they were recovering from that – backing up overs that went for 11 and 9 runs – they lost another wicket.Ravindra Jadeja , batting at No. 6, was in during the ninth over and made sure to stay there almost through to finish. His 43 off 26 balls was crucial to the total CSK ended up with.

Rahul Chahar was once again at the forefront of the PBKS bowling performance, even though he was facing a line-up full of left-handers. He coped by trusting his googly and by staying out of their hitting arcs. These are defensive skills and they are proving more and more valuable. Fifteen of the legspinner’s 24 deliveries arrived outside the batter’s off stump, or even wider, and fetched him all three of his wickets.