Red-hot Sunil Narine smashed 81 off 39 balls to help Kolkata Knight Riders thrash Lucknow Super Giants by 98 runs and take top spot in the IPL table on Sunday.

Narine’s blitz, laced with six fours and seven sixes, guided Kolkata to 235-6 after they were invited to bat first in Lucknow’s final home game.

Two-time champions Kolkata bowled out Lucknow for 137 in 16.1 overs for their eighth win in 11 matches and almost guaranteed a play-off berth. Second-placed Rajasthan Royals have played one match fewer, AFP reported.

In the first game of the day, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja starred with bat and ball to help holders Chennai Super Kings climb to third with a 28-run win over Punjab Kings.

The top four teams will make the play-offs with the final on May 26 in Chennai.

Narine, who has impressed after being promoted to open by Kolkata this season, led their batting charge in a 61-run first-wicket stand with Phil Salt.

“He was splendid,” Kolkata skipper Shreyas Iyer said of his team’s player of the match Narine, who has amassed 461 runs at a strike-rate of 183.66.

“The start from openers has been great. Pure bliss. We just want to keep continuing the momentum so that we get to the great total and be optimistic.”

Lucknow’s Naveen-ul-Haq took three wickets to hurt KKR but Iyer, who made 23, and Ramandeep Singh, who hit a six-ball 25 not out, helped the team finish on a high.

Ramandeep returned to make an impact in the field as he took a stunning catch to dismiss Arshin Kulkarni when he ran back 21 meters to dive and pouch the ball off the bowling of Mitchell Starc.

Marcus Stoinis hit 36 but the rest of the batting fell flat as spinner Varun Chakravarthy and fast bowler Harshit Rana took three wickets each.

Andre Russell took two wickets and Narine returned figures of 1-22.

Pathirana blow for Chennai
Lucknow are fifth on the table and stay in the hunt for a play-off spot.

“Once we go back to dressing room, we move on from this game and see where we went wrong,” said skipper KL Rahul. “Last home game, we are on the road for the next few games, we need to be little bit more fearless.”

In the earlier match, Jadeja top-scored with 43 off 26 balls to guide Chennai to 167-9 batting first in Punjab’s adopted home ground of Dharamsala.

Jadeja then returned figures of 3-20 from his four overs of left-arm spin to help restrict Punjab to 139-9 for Chennai’s sixth win in 11 matches.

The performance from the veteran Jadeja comes as a welcome sign for India ahead of the T20 World Cup in June in the West Indies and the United States.

Chennai suffered an early blow with Sri Lanka pace bowler Matheesha Pathirana set to return home due to a hamstring injury.

Pathirana was Chennai’s standout bowler and took 13 wickets in six matches.

But medium-pace bowler Tushar Deshpande took on the responsibility in the absence of Pathirana and injured Deepak Chahar as he struck twice in his first over and Punjab’s second in the chase.

Deshpande sent Jonny Bairstow, bowled for seven, and then Rilee Rossouw, bowled for a duck, trudging back to the pavilion in the space of four balls and the chase could never take off.

Abu Muslim hammered Maiwand 9-1 in the third season of Afghanistan Champions League (ACL) in Kabul on Sunday, with Mohammad Sohrab Afghan alone scoring five goals.

The other four goals for Abu Muslim were scored by Gul Moein Kamali, Obaidullah Omari, Rauf Azimi and Najibullah Hashimi.

It was the most goals scored by a team in a single match so far in the tournament.

Maiwand scored their only goal with a kick by Sayed Jawed Hasani shortly before the end of the match.

In the earlier match of the day, Adalat Farah defeated Mawj Sahil 3-0, with Abdul Ali Wahedi scoring two goals and Farhad Karimi scoring one.

Monday’s ACL matches will see Attack Energy take on Jawanan Wahedi at 1 PM and Aino Mina face Khadim at 3:30 PM.

The matches are broadcast live on Ariana Television.

Skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru hammer Gujarat Titans by four wickets for their third successive IPL win on Saturday.

Chasing a modest 148 for victory, Du Plessis, who hit 64, and Kohli, who made 42, laid the foundations with a stand of 92 in 35 balls as the target was achieved with 6.2 overs to spare at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, AFP reported.

Du Plessis’ departure triggered a collapse as Gujarat hit back with wickets from Joshua Little and Noor Ahmad to have the opposition in trouble at 117-6 when Kohli was dismissed.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik, who hit 21, and Swapnil Singh, who made 15, made sure there was no more drama as they steered the team home in an unbeaten stand of 35.

Bowlers set up victory after pace spearhead Mohammed Siraj removed the openers early and Gujarat lost regular wickets to be bowled out for 147 in 19.3 overs.

It was Bengaluru’s fourth win and third on the bounce in 11 matches as they jumped from the bottom of the table to seventh and keep their slim play-off hopes alive.

Gujarat’s hopes are also hanging by a thread as they slumped to their seventh loss in 11 matches.

Kohli, who reclaimed the top batting spot with 542 runs, came out roaring as he hit Mohit Sharma for two sixes in the opening over of the chase and Du Plessis soon joined in and moved ahead to raise his fifty in 18 balls.

The South African veteran smashed 10 fours and three sixes in his 23-ball blitz before being dismissed by Ireland left-arm quick Little.

Little took two more wickets including Glenn Maxwell for four as Bengaluru slipped to 107-4.

Little sent back Cameron Green and then Noor’s left-arm wrist spin silenced the home crowd when he had Kohli caught behind, but the hosts had the last laugh when Singh hit the winning six.

Earlier put into bat, Gujarat went three down for 19 inside six over before big-hitter Shahrukh Khan, who top-scored with 37, stood strong in a 61-run stand with David Miller, who hit 30 off 20 balls.

Left-handed Rahul Tewatia hit a 21-ball 35 and put on another key stand with Rashid Khan to add respect to the total.