Scintillating Russell leads KKR to victory

India

A swashbuckling innings from West Indian Andre Russell led the Kolkata Knight Riders to an exciting four wicket victory, with 13 balls remaining, over the Kings XI Punjab in Pune on Saturday.

Russell, batting at number seven, came in with his side in deep trouble at 60 for five in the eighth over but then proceeded to attack bowling, smashing nine fours and two sixes as he scored 66 from just 36 balls before he was out with one run remaining to win.

The Knight Riders were rocked as seamer Sandeep Sharma ripped through the heart of their batting line-up, recording figures of four for 25 in fours, to the Kings were well on top at that stage.

Sandeep accounted for Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Manish Pandey and Ryan ten Doeschate while Tisara Perera claimed the wicket of Suryakumar Yadav as the team from Kolkata faded badly.

But enter Jamaica-born Russell who has a reputation for going after the bowling and he did not disappoint, hitting the ball to all parts of the ground.

Russell needed an able partner and he received it in Yusuf Pathan, who was happy to give the strike to the to the burly man from the Caribbean. Pathan ended the innings on 28 from 24 balls as the KKR eased home in the end.

Earlier Kings XI skipper George Bailey scored a fighting innings of 60 from 45 balls as his team battled to 155 for nine in their 20 overs.

The only other score of note came from Glenn Maxwell who scored 33 batting at number four, but the team from Punjab could not muster enough runs to win the match.

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