Russell blitz propels KKR to a thrilling win over Sunrisers

KOLKATA: Andre Russell unleashed his fury with an unbeaten 25-ball 64 after Phil Salt’s solid fifty as Kolkata Knight Riders earned a four-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in an IPL match here on Saturday.

Set to chase 209, SRH’s Heinrich Klaasen struck 63 off 29 balls (8x6) but he got out in the last over with five runs needed off the last two balls to Harshit Rana who took three for 33.

Earlier, Salt, who went unsold at the auction only to be named as a replacement for Jason Roy, got to his third IPL fifty in just 38 balls before being dismissed by Mayank Markande (2/39) while trying to accelerate. The Englishman made 54 off 40.

Russell teed off against Markande when he launched the SRH leg-spinner deep into the stands -- three sixes in five balls.

Markande for a moment thought that he had the last laugh when Aiden Markram took a blinder at long-on but replays showed he grounded the forward diving catch, giving Russell a breather on 20. The warning signs were on for SRH and the Jamaican went ballistic in Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s penultimate over hitting him for two fours and two sixes that eventually yielded 26 runs.

Rinku Singh, at the other end, made a 15-ball 23 as the duo put together 81 runs from 33 balls as KKR scored 85 runs in the last five overs.

Left-arm seamer T Natarajan dismissed both Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer and along with veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar conceded just 16 runs in four overs to stifle KKR inside the powerplay.

Bhuvneshwar bowled a peach of an opening over when he swung the ball both ways to Salt and Sunil Narine, cramping them for room and gave away just three runs. The world No. 2 T20I batter picked Marco Jansen to free his arms, smacking the lanky South African pacer for three consecutive sixes in the off-side corridor.

But KKR lost Narine out of the blue following a mix-up and after yet another tidy over by Bhuvneshwar, Cummins brought in Natarajan in a smart captaincy move.

It worked wonders as he dismissed Venkatesh and comeback skipper Shreyas in three balls, both falling to lofted shots.

BRIEF SCORES: Kolkata Knight Riders 208/7 in 20 overs (A Russell 64*, P Salt 54, T Natarajan 3/32) bt Sunrisers Hyderabad 204/7 in 20 overs (H Klaasen 63, H Rana 3/33)