Pune, May 14: It was the Andre Russell show on display at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium on Saturday, as the all rounder kept Kolkata Knight Riders' playoff race alive.
Russell first impressed with the bat and then led the bowling attack as Knight Riders clinched a massive 54-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday. With the playoffs race heating up for the 2022 edition of the IPL, Knights' win saw them stay afloat in the race while the win margin saw the net runrate turn positive.
After winning the crucial toss in Pune and electing to bat first, Knights got off to a shaky start as they lost the hard-hitting Venkatesh Iyer early (7 off 6). Marco Jansen struck early as he reduced KKR to 17/1 at the end of two overs.
Having lost an early wicket, opener Ajinkya Rahane and Nitish Rana, recovered the Knights' inning as KKR scored 55/1 in the powerplay.
Following the powerplay, Umran Malik struck in his very first over as Rana (26 off 16) was picked up by Shashank Singh at fine leg, before Malik pocketed his second wicket in the same over as he removed the struggling Ajinkya Rahane. A stellar catch from Shashank Singh saw Rahane (28 off 24) dismissed as KKR was reduced to 72/3 in 8 overs.
Malik jolted the middle order as Knights lost their fourth. It was his third wickt of the evening as Malik removed KKR skipper (15 off 9), who was picked up by Rahul Tripathi. Losing the skipper midway through the innings, the former champs were reduced to 83/4 in 10 overs.
Returning from injury, T Natarajan removed the inform Rinku Singh for just five to reduce KKR to 94/5 in 11.3 overs. With quick wickets in the middle the Knight Riders were staring at a below-par total.
But Andre Russell and Sam Billings rebuild KKR's innings with a 44-ball 63 run partnership for the sixth wicket. Bhuvi removed Billings in the penultimate over to break the partnership and reduced KKR to 157/6 in 18.5 overs.
But Russell (49 no off 28) hammered three maximums in the final over as Washington Sundar leaked 20 runs in the final over. Riding on Russell unbeaten knock and his partnership with Billings, KKR posted a strong total of 177/6.
In reply, it was Russell who once again led the way for the Knights. The Windies all rounder handed the Knights the first breakthrough with the ball, removing SRH skipper Kane Williamson (9 off 17) to reduce SRH to 30/1 in 5.2 overs.
Tim Southee struck next to remove the inform Rahul Tripathi. A stunning follow on catch from Southee ended Tripathi's (9 off 12) innings as SRH was reduced to 54/2 in 8.2 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy handed KKR the big wicket of Abhishek Sharma, the only Sunrisers player to enjoy a good outing with the bat. Sharma's solid 43 off 28 came to an end as Billings called for it and picked him up towards square leg. Narine then picked up the big wicket of Nicholas Pooran as he fell for just 2 off 3 to reduce SRH 76/4 in 12.3 overs.
In his final over, Umesh Yadav took the game away from SRH with the important wicket of Aiden Markram (32 off 25). Sunrisers struggled to build partnerships as Russell returned with a stellar three-wicket haul, while Southee pocketed two.
The win saw KKR collect two crucial points and climb to the sixth spot on the points table. On the other hand, SRH who fell to their fifth consecutive loss, slipped to eighth on the points table.