RANAWAY HIT!
Nitish’s half- century and Russell’s blitz fire KKR to 200/ 9
Kolkata, April 16: Kolkata Knight Riders stepped on the gas with an Andre Russell assault in the middle overs as they overcame a slow start to post a challenging 200/ 9 against Delhi Daredevils in the Indian Premier League game here on Monday.
Left- hander Nitish Rana anchored the innings with a breezy 59, but it was the carnage unleashed by Russell in the middle overs, that lifted the hosts to 200 after being put in by Gautam Gambhir at the Eden Gardens.
Russell occupied the crease briefly, for 12 balls, but hit the ball all around the park en route to a brutal 41 — 36 off those coming in sixes.
That the Jamaican did not have a single four in his whirlwind innings, summed up his dominance, before being deceived by Trent Boult’s inswinging yorker that unsettled his leg- stump.
The only blip in Russell’s innings was when he was dropped on seven by Jason Roy off the bowling of Mohammed Shami, but from there on, there was no stopping the Jamaican.
Russell missed out on a fifty, but Rana brought up his in 30 balls in a highly impressive knock, which contained five fours and four sixes.
The former Mumbai Indians batsman caught the attention with his strokemaking and temperament, holding the KKR innings together before being done in by a slower one by Chris Morris.
After the departure of Russell and Rana, wrist spinner Rahul Tewatia ( 3/ 18) took three wickets in the last over, but the duo’s stunning 61- run partnership from 22 balls was enough to help KKR post a challenging total.
Boult gave Delhi Daredevils a terrific start, bowling a maiden first over to Chris Lynn, and then accounting for Sunil Narine.
But they still managed to score 50 runs in the Powerplay, thanks to some clean hitting by Lynn ( 31) and Uthappa, who scored a brisk 35 from 19 balls.
Lynn got into the groove by smashing Boult for backtoback boundaries before Uthappa took Nadeem to the cleaners with two sixes and a four.
Nitish Rana anchored the innings with a breezy 59, but it was Russell’s show in the middle overs that lifted the hosts to 200 after being put in by Gautam Gambhir at the Eden Gardens