Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) hosted Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 17 of IPL 2019 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. KKR skipper, Dinesh Karthik won the toss and elected to bowl first keeping in mind that chasing teams usually prevail on this small sized ground due to the dew factor.

RCB came into the match having lost all four games they had played in, and needed a win to keep their hopes alive in the tournament. Their captain Virat Kohli delivered with 84 and AB de Villiers scored 63 to help the team set a daunting target of 206 for KKR. Virat also went past Suresh Raina to become the leading run-scorer in the history of IPL.

KKR got a decent start with Chris Lynn (43) and Robin Uthappa (33) keeping up with the required run-rate after Sunil Narine fell early, but both of them failed to carry on to get a sizeable score. Nitish Rana (37) and Dinesh Karthik (19) also got set but lost their wickets while trying to go for the big hits.

With 53 runs needed in the final three overs, Andre Russell was on the crease and was very much the last hope for KKR to get close to the target.

The Caribbean allrounder has been in great touch with the bat and tonight was no different as he smashed an unbeaten 48 off 13 balls to take KKR past the target with 5 balls to spare. He couldn't open his account on the first four balls that he faced, but then launched an incredible attack on RCB's bowlers.

RCB are now winless after five games and will require a miracle to have any chance of qualification for the playoffs. This season has been nothing short of a nightmare for the Virat Kohli-led team.

Russell's innings left former and current cricketers spellbound, including from his part of the world. Here are the tweets posted by Sir Vivian Richards, Chris Gayle, Brian Lara and Daren Sammy in admiration of his innings: