After his side’s victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Andre Russell said pacer Harshit Rana wanted the latter and praised the young pacer for coming back. well after getting a six while defending 13 runs in the final. Despite an all-round show from Russell, SRH’s Heinrich Klaasen threatened to ruin KKR’s party and dented Mitchell Starc’s IPL comeback with a huge sixes. But a win was not meant for SRH as Harshit managed to keep his composure and defend 13 runs in the last over despite Klaasen hitting him for a huge six early on. Harshit went on to take two wickets, including Klaasen’s.
After the match, Russell, crowned Player of Match for his fifty and two wickets, said in the presentation: “Shows a lot about his (tough) character. He told me he wanted to get past the last one, he claimed it and he came on strong back after the first ball went for six.”
Talking about his batting and his contribution to KKR’s victories over the years, the hard-hitting batsman said, “Sometimes things appear on my Instagram and I realize how well I am hitting the ball. It shows that you are doing well. I have tried to respond with whatever comes my way. For the last two years, bowlers have their plans against me. I have been digging out the runs and I know everyone has a plan for me.”
“I sat on the bench early and tried to make myself useful. This franchise means a lot to me, what I did tonight was just a way to prove what this jersey means to me. Hopefully I can continue to perform like this.” ” he concluded.
KKR were put into bat first by SRH and were reduced to 51/4 in 7.3 overs. However, a half-century from Phil Salt (54 in 40 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and an explosive knock from Ramandeep Singh (35 in 17 balls, with a four and four sixes) kept the team’s run rate fine, but yet they struggled at 119/6 in 13.5 overs.
An explosive partnership of 67 runs followed between Andre Rusell (64* in 25 balls, with three fours and seven sixes) and Rinku Singh (23 in 15 balls, with three fours), taking KKR to 208/7 in 20 overs.
T Natrajan (3/32) and Mayank Markande (2/32) were the best bowlers for SRH.
Chasing 209 runs, SRH started well with an opening stand of 60 runs between Mayank Agarwal (32 in 21 balls with four boundaries and a six) and Abhishek Sharma (32 in 19 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes). The team lost its way and soon found itself at 145/5 in 16.5 overs.
However, Heinrich Klaasen (63 in 29 balls with eight sixes) and Shahbaz Ahmed (16 in five balls, with a four and two sixes) unleashed a barrage of sixes towards the end, torching pacer Mitchell Starc with a price tag of over Rs 24 crore for 26 runs in his over, ending his first figures for KKR at 0/53 in four overs. 13 runs were needed in the final over but Harshit Rana (3/33) held his nerve, picked up two wickets and defended the remaining runs.
Andre Russell secured the ‘Player of the Match’ for his half-century and figures of 2/25.
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