Kolkata thrashed Lucknow with the help of Starc and Salt

On Sunday, the Kolkata Knight Riders secured a dominant eight-wicket victory over the Lucknow Super Giants, thanks to Phil Salt's rapid 89 and Mitchell Starc's three wickets.

Starc's impressive figures of 3-28 helped restrict Lucknow to 161-7 at Kolkata's Eden Gardens. The other Knight Riders' bowlers also put in disciplined performances after their side won the toss and elected to field first.

Kolkata made IPL history by signing Starc for a record-breaking $2.98 million, making him the most expensive player in the league's history.

Opener Salt led the two-time IPL champions to victory in just 15.4 overs, securing their fourth win in five matches this season.

The English wicketkeeper-batsman scored his second half-century of the current IPL edition, following his 54 in the team's opening win last month.

Despite Kolkata losing two wickets, including opener Sunil Narine for six, Salt kept the chase alive.

He put on 120 runs for the second wicket with skipper Shreyas Iyer, who made 38. Iyer hit 14 fours and three sixes in his 47-ball knock.

Players have been competing to impress their national selectors ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup, which starts on 1 June in the West Indies and USA.

Starc had a slow start, conceding 10 runs in his first over, but he recovered well and dismissed Deepak Hooda in his third over with the assistance of a diving catch at backward point from Ramandeep Singh.

Narine, the mystery spinner, restricted the flow of runs and finished with figures of 1-17. Starc bowled the 20th over, conceding only six runs and taking two wickets.

He dismissed Nicholas Pooran, who was on 45, on the first ball with a catch behind and finished with a yorker to bowl out Arshad Khan.