Andre Russell put on a show with the bat in KKR’s opening match of the IPL 2024 season against SRH at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday (March 23).

Russell came to the crease in the 14th over and launched a brutal assault on the SRH bowling attack from the word go.

The hard-hitting all-rounder smashed leg-spinner Mayank Markande for three sixes in the 16th over. Russell also took veteran seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar to the cleaners and notched up his half-century in just 20 balls.

Russell added 81 runs for the seventh wicket with Rinku Singh and eventually returned with 64 not out off 25 balls. His knock was studded with 3 fours and 7 gigantic sixes.

Thanks to Andre Russell’s blistering innings, KKR racked up a massive total of 208/7 in 20 overs. Philip Salt (54 off 40) also scored a half-century for the Knight Riders while Ramandeep Singh (35 off 17) and Rinku Singh (23 off 15) made vital contributions.

T Natarajan was the pick of the bowlers for SRH, returning with three wickets by conceding 32 runs in his four overs.

For his scintillating batting display in the death overs, Andre Russell received rich praise from the cricket fraternity on social media.

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