Kolkata Knight Riders' move to open with Sunil Narine continued to do wonders in the 2024 edition of the IPL as the West Indies all-rounder smashed his second half-century of the season apart from a century as the home team destroyed the Punjab Kings in yet another run-fest at the Eden Gardens on Friday, April 26. Narine and Phil Salt gave a bumper start to the innings smashing 76 runs in the powerplay itself as the duo notched up its first century stand in the tournament.
The duo scripted history by achieving KKR's second highest partnership breaking Gautam Gambhir-Robin Uthappa's stand of 121 runs. The 184-run stand between Gambhir and Chris Lynn is still the highest for the Knight Riders. Meanwhile, the 138-run stand between Narine and Salt was also the highest opening stand of the season.
Highest opening partnership for KKR in IPL
184* - Gautam Gambhir, Chris Lynn vs GL (Rajkot, 2017)
138 - Sunil Narine, Phil Salt vs PBKS (Kolkata, 2024)
121 - Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa vs RR (Ahmedabad, 2014)
113 - Gautam Gambhir, Brendon McCullum vs PWI (Kolkata, 2012)
Highest opening partnership in IPL 2024
138 - Sunil Narine, Phil Salt vs PBKS, Kolkata
134 - Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul vs CSK, Lucknow
131 - Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head vs DC, Delhi
125 - Faf du Plessis, Virat Kohli vs RR, Jaipur
The 70-odd scores by Salt and Narine followed up by quick cameos from Andre Russell, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer helped the Knight Riders get to their second highest total in IPL history as the home side notched up 261 runs on Tuesday. This was the 7th highest team score in IPL history while the highest at Eden Gardens as KKR broke Chennai Super Kings' record, who piled on 235 runs in the 2023 edition in the City of Joy.
Highest team score in IPL
287/3 - SRH vs RCB (Bengaluru, 2024)
277/3 - SRH vs MI (Hyderabad, 2024)
272/7 - KKR vs DC (Visakhapatnam, 2024)
266/7 - SRH vs DC (Delhi, 2024)
263/5 - RCB vs PWI (Bengaluru, 2013)
262/7 - RCB vs SRH (Bengaluru, 2024)
261/6 - KKR vs PBKS (Kolkata, 2024)
Highest team score for KKR in IPL
272/7 vs DC (Visakhapatnam, 2024)
261/6 vs PBKS (Kolkata, 2024)
245/6 vs KXIP (Indore, 2018)
The pitch is good with the pace-on but will get difficult with the change of pace and the Punjab Kings batters will have their task cut out.
