[Watch] Quinton de Kock puts in a full-stretch dive to send back KKR's Venkatesh Iyer
After a breathtaking century, Quinton de Kock grabbed a superb catch behind the stumps to dismiss Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener Venkatesh Iyer on Wednesday.
Chasing 211 runs at the DY Patil Sports Academy, KKR needed a swashbuckling start. But young Mohsin Khan, who has been one of the finds of IPL 2022, produced the first breakthrough in the first over of the Kolkata innings.
The left-arm pacer hit the good length area and the ball came back into Venkatesh Iyer. The southpaw was already committed to the drive and didn't anticipate the movement.
The ball took the inside edge and flew to the right of the wicket-keeper where Quinton de Kock produced a full-length dive to grab the ball with one hand. The Proteas cricketer cannot do anything wrong today.
Watch the clip here:
Meanwhile, the Kolkata franchise also lost debutant Abhijeet Tomar in the third over to struggle at 10/2 after three overs.
It will now require a monumental effort from captain Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana to put KKR in line for the run chase and keep themselves alive in the tournament.
Check out this IPL purple cap winners from 2008 to 2022 here.
Quinton de Kock's unbeaten 140 guides Lucknow to 210
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Quinton de cock century must be dedicated to his new born daughter ❤️. https://t.co/H4qPLRrblJ
LSG openers de Kock and KL Rahul went berserk after they opted to bat first. The opening pair chose the bowlers to attack and went after them.
Quinton de Kock, in particular, was ruthless against both pace and spin. The southpaw hit everything that was in his arc to bring up his second IPL century.
The duo plundered 61 runs in the last three overs to put 210 runs on the board, a total that looks out of KKR's reach.
De Kock remained unbeaten on 140 off 70 balls, a knock that included 10 boundaries and sixes each, while Rahul contributed 68 runs off 51 deliveries.
It remains to be seen whether Kolkata manage to chase down the total. The purple brigade will have to chase down the target in 16.5 overs to go past Delhi Capitals' (DC) net run rate and keep their hopes of making the IPL playoffs 2022 alive.