Kolkata Knight Riders needed 21 runs to win off six deliveries in what turned out to be a high-scoring affair against Lucknow Super Giants. Their big guns back in the dug-out, the onus was on Rinku Singh and Sunil Narine with LSG captain KL Rahul throwing the ball to Marcus Stoinis for the finale. LSG had set KKR a big target of 211 to win and had all but sealed the contest in their favour. But Rinku belted a four followed by a couple of sixes and a double brought down the equation to an easy 5 off 3 deliveries with four wickets remaining.

A screamer from Evin Lewis – a one-handed catch near deep backward point region – ended Rinku’s innings on 40 off 15. And then Stoinis nailed the yorker to have Umesh Yadav bowled for a first-ball duck with KKR finishing on 208/8 as LSG sealed their playoffs berth with a two-run win at the DY Patil Stadium on a memorable Wednesday night. KKR are mathematically out of playoffs race now. KKR’s chase began on a disastrous note as they lost opener Venkatesh Iyer in the very first over before a single run was scored. And then his fellow opener – debutant Abhijeet Tomar- followed him into the dug-out soon -leaving them 9/2 in 2.4 overs – both wickets taken by Mohsin Khan.

But KKR’s chase was brought on track thanks to a superb 29-ball 50 from their captain Shreyas Iyer and a handy 24-ball 36 from Sam Billings.  However, LSG continued to chip away and when Andre Russell became Mohsin’s third victim of the night, the chase appeared as good as over before Rinku and Sunil Narine (21*) dragged it to the final delivery. Earlier, Quinton de Kock provided a batting masterclass en route to a sensational hundred and alongside skipper KL Rahul, fired LSG to 210 for no loss. More than 60 games into the IPL, the surfaces are getting tougher for strokeplay and Rahul thought it was better to put runs on the board.

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Both Rahul and de Kock got the measure of the wicket in the powerplay, reaching 44 for no loss, before flaunting their wide range of strokes on way to their unbeaten 210-run stand, the highest ever opening partnership in the history of the tournament. The South African hammered 10 sixes and as many fours in his 70-ball unbeaten 140, while Rahul collected four sixes and three fours in his 51-ball 68 not out. De Kock, who was dropped by Abhijeet Tomar off Umesh Yadav in the third over, made KKR pay heavily by getting the highest score of the season.

The South African was in his elements smashing the spinners and pacers with equal disdain. He used the pull shot against the faster bowlers and was at his innovative best against the seasoned spin duo of Sunil Narine and off coloured Varun Chakaravarthy. Out of the sixes he hit, de Kock’s reverse sweep off Narine stood out. Anything short from the pacers, de Kock was happy to put it away over deep square leg region. The southpaw was in no mood to stop even after reaching three figures. Tim Southee was poor in the death overs as he fed balls after balls in the slot for de Kock to deposit it into the stands.

His 19th over yielded as many as 27 runs with de Kock finding the boundary at will. Rahul watched de Kock’s breathtaking knock from the best seat in the house. The skipper did not have much to do in the slog overs but he too played some sublime strokes on way to his third half century of the season. Rahul also completed 500 runs in the tournament for the fifth season in a row.