Andre Russell took the SRH bowling attack to the cleaners in KKR’s opening match of the IPL 2024 season 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, studded with 3 fours and 7 gigantic sixes, propelled KKR to a massive 208/7 in 20 overs.
During his whirlwind innings, Andre Russell reached the milestone of 200 sixes for KKR. After winning the last-ball thriller against SRH, Russell said he had been an integral part of the franchise since the time he started playing for Kolkata and thanked the side for showing faith in him.
“I've been a permanent fixture in the XI, so I'm just happy to keep contributing and this franchise means a lot to me. They have shown faith and confidence in me over the years. So what I did tonight is just to say keep supporting and I'm happy to contribute every time I put this jersey on,” Russell said in the post-match presentation.
“Sometimes stuff pops up on my Instagram and I realise how well I've been striking the ball, which is just a cool reminder to know that you're doing well. So I'm happy with the way I'm batting and grateful for the win tonight,” he added.
Russell said he was ready for any kind of plans that anyone would come up with while bowling against him.
“I just try to react to whatever comes my way. I know, based on the last year or two, bowlers have been exceptionally good at bowling to me, and they plan very carefully when they bowl to me. So I've been digging runs out in the back end, and I'm still figuring out how to score because they're going to have their plans. I realise everyone is coming to me with a plan, so I have to be ready,” he concluded.
Coming to the match, Kolkata Knight Riders edged past Sunrisers Hyderabad by four runs to open their IPL 2024 campaign positively.
Chasing the target, the Sunrisers were struggling at 145/5 in the 17th over. However, Heinrich Klaasen produced a scintillating 25-ball half-century to keep SRH in the hunt. In fact, Klaasen and Shahbaz Ahmed smashed Mitchell Starc for 26 runs in the penultimate over to make the equation – 13 runs off 6 balls.
In the final over, Klaasen slammed Harshit Rana’s first delivery for a six but the KKR pacer bounced back from the second delivery onwards to take his team over the line. Rana’s second delivery went for a single while he dismissed Shahbaz in the following ball. The fourth ball again went for a single and then he got the prized scalp of Klaasen (63 off 29 balls) in the penultimate delivery.
SRH needed 5 off the final ball and Harshit Rana bowled a slower delivery to deceive Pat Cummins, restricting the visitors to 204/7.
