Russell’s 70 off 31 helps Knight Riders brush aside Kings

Cricket
Report

He came to the rescue after a shaky chase to lift Knight Riders to the top of the table

Kolkata Knight Riders 141 for 4 (Russell 70*, Shreyas 26, Chahar 2-13) beat Punjab Kings 137 (Rajapaksha 31, Umesh 4-23) by six wickets

Zero backward steps taken. Two of the most exciting sides in this IPL threw punch after punch at each other, but the toss disadvantage proved to be too much Punjab Kings against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Kings played the game Knight Riders did two nights ago in an attempt to provide for the inevitable dew and chasing advantage: just keep going hard and refuse to rebuild until that is the last option left. It is a shame that just like for Knight Riders, it didn’t work out for Kings. They were bowled out for 137 with 10 balls to spare, a total KKR chased down in 14.3 overs despite being 51 for 4.

Right from their team selection, Knight Riders kept picking the aggressive option. They replaced a wicketkeeper-batter with a specialist bowler, went for wickets every time Kings threatened to run away, bowled out their four main bowlers in the first 17 to try to bowlKings out, and then, at 51 for 4, a circumspect Andre Russell saw them through with 70 off 31.

More to follow

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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