Andre Russell muscled 7 sixes in his 13-ball unbeaten 48 as Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 206 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium to defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 5 wickets. RCB have now lost all their 5 matches in the 2019 Indian Premier League while KKR raced away to their 3rd win in 4 matches.
KKR needed 53 off the last 3 overs and 30 off the last 2 overs with 5 wickets in hand but Andre Russell’s blistering knock left RCB shell-shocked in their home ground. Sunil Gavaskar summed it up perfectly on air after KKR wrapped up victory: “I did not think it was going to be possible but this man Andre Russell made the impossible possible.”
Chris Lynn wasted little time in a steep chase for the Knight Riders. He was aggressive from the word go but Pawan Negi took a blinder at fine leg to get rid of the dangerous Sunil Narine. However, Robin Uthappa joined forces with Lynn and added 65 off the next 8 overs. Negi, fresh from that mind-numbing catch, was prepared to do more damage to KKR’s chase.
In his first over in this edition of the IPL, Negi removed Robin Uthappa for a 25-ball 33. In his second over this IPL, Negi struck again to see the back of Chris Lynn for 43 off 31 balls.
The onus was now on Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik.
KKR have a lot of expectations from Rana and he did not disappoint despite the twin blows. Rana hit two sixes, one four and ran brilliantly in a 23-ball 37 even as Karthik struggled to break the shackles at the other end.
Yuzvendra Chahal, the current Purple Cap holder, had bowled beautifully for 3 overs without taking a wicket. In his last over, he picked up the important wicket of Nitish Rana as Andre Russell joined Dinesh Karthik in the middle.
Karthik hit Navdeep Saini for a four and six off successive balls before holding out to Yuzvendra Chahal off the final ball of the 17th over. KKR needed 53 off 3 overs when Shubman Gill walked out to join Russell.
The chase was not over for KKR – Andre Russell smashed three successive sixes in the 18th over and RCB skipper Virat Kohli looked rattled. With 30 runs needed off the final 2 overs, the game was wide open.
Russell sealed the deal for KKR with three sixes off Tim Southee in the 19th over. KKR needed only 1 off the final over and that said a lot about Russell’s efforts.
