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Alright, Knight Riders finished the game in a canter, it was a certainly a Russellmania tonight, he took the game from the scruff of the neck and finished on his own terms in the end, Kolkata Knight Riders sit pretty at the top of the table with four points. What do we have in store tomorrow, it's a double-header, the first of the game is between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at 3:30pm IST and then the second game at 7:30pm IST between Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals, don't miss-out on all the action that is happening in the IPL and the cricket around the globe on Sportskeeda. This was Pratyush Rohra, Sooryanarayanan Sesha along with me(Pradeep Somashekar) signing off, stay safe and take care!
Time for the presentation!
Umesh Yadav: Needed actually, I work hard because that's the kind of competitive cricket's been happening around the world. With the age, you need to push yourself, there's one thing that'll make you better is practice, the more I bowl is better for me. In the nets, I plan to execute the deliveries that I want to bowl in the match. I surprised that Agarwal charged at me the very first delivery, I knew, I have seen him play in the nets, I knew he would hit me across the line and I'm glad I was able to pitch it on the dot. I try hard, whatever, wherever I've practiced, I just hope the lines and lengths are right, I hit the right lengths as much as possible, otherwise it doesn't make sense about the pace you bring in that delivery. Umesh Yadav has been awarded the Player of the match for his splendid four-for tonight to setup the game for Knight Riders to win!
Shreyas Iyer (Captain, Kolkata Knight Riders): The start that Punjab Kings got, we were simply stunned, we didn't expect them to come so hard at us, especially after losing a wicket in the first over. When I saw them timing the ball so well, I thought even I could do it and get boundaries as many as possible. We got early wickets in the powerplay, the mindset was, if we our main bowlers get wickets later on they have some hard hitters, if they do well and pick them early then we're in business. I kept Sunil's and Varun's one each, they basically did a brilliant job later on. (Talking about Sunil and Varun), they basically make my job easier, on the field, they come up with their own strategies, in the team meetings they already have come up with plans for each batters and they know their strategies very well. To be honest, I was so relieved to see him(Russell) hitting like that, it was Russell-Muscle for sure. I was having a chat with him, he was saying, I'm getting older, I said, you're getting fitter as you get older, I see him everywhere, I go to gym he's there, every training session he's in and there's hungry in him to perform well.
Andre Russell (current Orange Cap holder): Feeling awesome. This is the reason why we play the game. I know what I can do in that position. It was good to have someone like Sam in that situation as well. Once I set in, I backed myself to go on from there and that's what I told him. I'm happy to do whatever the team requires. I'm looking to bowl in the death or in the powerplay, if the captain needs me. I know I won't be bowling my full quota but even if I can chip in with two overs, I will feel like I've contributed to the team. We were a couple of wickets down. I knew Sunil and the other bowlers were yet to come. I told Sam to wait and let's see what happens, before going after them from one end. Obviously, I told him I'll look for the big hits. Chahar bowled really well with the kind of grip he was getting. We knew it would be easy once the pacers come on. Only connected one right from the meat of the bat.
Mayank Agarwal: I think we didn't bat well enough. That's where is started. We should great fight with the ball. Russ got going and credit to him, taking the game away from us like that. It was a 170 wicket. I thought we started off well but couldn't capitalize but that's okay. A game like this at the start of the tournament tends to happen. The bowlers pulled the game back for us really well before Russell took it away. Lots of positives to take into the next one.
Kolkata Knight Riders won the game by 6 wickets! Andre Russell 70(31)* | Shreyas Iyer 26(15) | Sam Billings 24(23) | Rahul Chahar 4-1-13-2 | Kagiso Rabada 3-0-23-1
Dre Russ hurricane blew the Punjab Kings away in this game, whatever chances they had in this contest were taken away quickly by that Russell mayhem, he's back at his best. He was able to hit them out of the middle of the bat for some monstrous hits tonight.
Punjab Kings started off well by picking up the wickets and then Rahul Chahar threatened to create problems for Knight Riders but Russell had other ideas tonight. Shreyas Iyer looked good for most part of that inning and then those quick wickets reduced Knight Riders to 51-4 and it was game on for the Punjab Kings.
Raw power hitting started from that Brar's over which went for 17 and from there on there was no looking back. Russell clubbed Smith for 23 runs in that over and then to make things worse he oversteps and then Billings makes it 30 and whatever chance they had were blown away in that over.
Later on Russell finished the game in style in that Livingstone over. Punjab Kings didn't have a lot of runs on the board, they would've been in the game otherwise but they need to sort that out and come back a better side. But what an innings from Russell, he owned the Punjab Kings bowlers tonight.
GAME, SET AND MATCH! Dre Russ does it for Knight Riders, he hugs Sam Billings. This partnership took the game away from Punjab Kings.
15.0
14.3 Liam Livingstone to Andre Russell, SIX! RUSSELL-MUSCLE TO FINISH THINGS OFF! The broad smile on his face tells you all you need to know. He's delighted with that performance. A drag down from Livingstone as Russell rocks back to dispatch a pull over the mid-wicket ropes. Not the best of timings again, but does it matter? Pretty sure you don't need me to answer that. Game, set, match. Kolkata Knight Riders win by 6 wickets with 33 balls to spare.
Just three needed now!
14.2 Liam Livingstone to Andre Russell, SIX! He sliced that one but it doesn't matter. Flighted in his slot around off-stump. Clears the front leg again to launch this over long-off to clear the boundary again
14.1 Liam Livingstone to Sam Billings, a bit short on middle stump, Billings rocks back to flick this deep mid-wicket for a single
Livingstone, right arm leg-break, comes into the attack!
This game is getting over than everyone anticipated, what an innings from Dre Russ, he's back and well truly back in this IPL. He's middled them every time, there wasn't a single mishit from him in this inning. The rest of the teams should watch out for Dre Russ from here on!
14
overs
128/4score
0
0
1
5nb
2
0
6
runs
Sam Billings
23(22)
Andre Russell*
58(29)
Arshdeep Singh
0/32
13.6 Arshdeep Singh to Andre Russell, SIX! WHAT A SHOT! Full and wide yorker is the way to go against him, but he can't be stopped in this kind of mood. Clears his front leg again to slice this over the covers to clear the ropes. All about the muscle! He's in a hurry to finish this off.
13.5 Arshdeep Singh to Andre Russell, on the good length to angle it across the right-hander, Russell clears his front leg to try and heave across the line, misses
13.4 Arshdeep Singh to Andre Russell, back of a length slower one, pulled towards deep mid-wicket to tap and return
Arshdeep did well to get out of the way there, would've taken his head along the way to the fence, such raw power! FIFTY FOR RUSSELL!
13.4 Arshdeep Singh to Andre Russell, FOUR! He had the bowler and the umpire ducking for cover there. Full toss outside off stump as Russell spanks it right back to where it came from. Arshdeep manages to evade and Rabada can't cut it off at long-off. To make matters worse, Arshdeep has overstepped. Brutal fifty for Dre Russ!
13.3 Arshdeep Singh to Sam Billings, good length to angle it into Billings, drive it towards long-on and thinks about the second. Settles for a single