Synopsis: Andre Russell rolled back the clock on Saturday when he smashed 64 off 25 balls to set a 209-run target and took 2 wickets as the Kolkata Knight Riders edged out Sunrisers Hyderabad to start their IPL 2024 campaign with a 4-run win.
Klassen threatens a heist
The dangerous Heinrich Klaasen would try with all his might with a 25-ball 50, mining 26 runs from the 19th over by Mitchell Starc and 21 runs from Varun Chakravarthy in the 18th. But a disciplined performance from Harshit Rana who defended 13 runs in the last over with a clever mix of slower balls ensured that the home fans left the ground a happy bunch. Rana first took out Klassen’s ally Shahbaz Ahmed and with the equation reading 5 from 2, he slipped in a slower off-break. Klaasen might still have escaped and got a couple of vital runs but Suyash Sharma, the impact substitute, ran back from short third to take a tumbling catch even as Rana to issue a send-off that Klassen didn’t appreciate. Rana produced a similar ball again to negate Pat Cummins’s bat-swing to take KKR home. Rana had earlier terminated a promising opening partnership too by removing Mayank Agarwal before Russell took out the other opener Abhishek Sharma.
Plot Twist 🔁
Suyash Sharma’s 𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙍𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙘𝙝 dismisses Heinrich Klaasen 😮
Scorecard ▶️https://t.co/xjNjyPa8V4 #TATAIPL | #KKRvSRH pic.twitter.com/IX16oecZkd
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 23, 2024
Phil Salt’s strong debut but KKR’s top order woes continue
KKR handed Englishman Phil Salt his debut cap against the Sunrisers on a batting track and he started swimmingly, smashing Marco Jansen for a hat trick of sixes in the second over. He would go into a shell in the middle but with a boundary here and there, reached his half century in 38 balls before being dismissed for 54 runs.
Throughout the innings, the English batter wasn’t helped by his teammates with Venkatesh Iyer, Sunil Narine, captain Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana all back in the pavilion with Kolkata precariously perched at 51/4.
Ramandeep rebuilds, Russell sizzles
Punjab lad Ramandeep Singh who idolizes Andre Russell would then help the Knights rebuild with a 17-ball 35. Russell would then take over by smashing three sixes in four balls from Markande in the 16th over. The lusty blows hit all around the park were a reminder why KKR kept faith in the big man even if his performances in the last few IPLs left a lot to be desired. In the 17th over, he made Bhuvneshwar Kumar look like a Sunday league bowler, walloping him for 18 runs, courtesy of two fours and a huge six over midwicket. He would get to a half century in just 20 balls and all those runs would prove mighty useful in the end to deny Klasssen’s blitzkrieg.
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