KKR posts 206 for 4 (led by Russell’s 57* and Raghuvanshi’s 44) against RR, with Parag taking 1-21.
KKR’s No. 5, Andre Russell, played a crucial role with his unbeaten 57 off 25 balls, propelling the team to score an impressive 95 runs in the last seven overs at Eden Gardens. This resulted in KKR setting a challenging target of 207 for RR to chase.
Unfortunately, RR’s spinners proved unable to rein in the KKR batters. Akash Madhwal was quickly dismissed, and Russell prevented Maheesh Theekshana from securing a solid finish.
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Promoted with 7.2 overs remaining, Russell’s start was slow, scoring only 2 runs from nine balls. However, when the pace bowlers returned for the final stretch, he went on a rampage. In just six balls, he smashed two fours and two sixes.
Theekshana’s delivery in the 18th over featured varying speeds and lengths, but they were no match for Russell who confidently hit three consecutive sixes from cow corner to long-off.
Jofra Archer faced difficulties with both full and short balls, resulting in boundaries being scored. Despite creating an opportunity, Riyan Parag missed the catch at long-off. The last over of the innings was opened by Madhwal who delivered three wides before Rinku Singh took charge and ended on a strong note with a four and two sixes.
The morning began with Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah Gurbaz frequently moving to the side. Narine managed to smash a six off a full toss, but was then ultimately bowled by Yudhvir Singh’s clever change in pace and length. Despite Yudhvir’s previous success of getting Gurbaz to hit a top edge, he was unable to contain him in his next over, resulting in 15 runs conceded.
Ajinkya Rahane pulled off a remarkable shot today, driving Madhwal for a stunning six and later flicking behind square to score four additional runs.
Gurbaz also went across the stumps and attempted to create shots, resulting in a few misplays but ultimately gaining two fours and a six during the 56-run powerplay.
In the eighth over, Gurbaz’s slog sweep was dismissed by Theekshana. From overs six to ten, KKR struggled as the spinners opted to eliminate any pace, resulting in a mere 30 runs being scored.
While Raghuvanshi consistently hit boundaries every over, Rahane appeared to struggle against spin. His scoring rate slowed down significantly from 19 off 10 balls to just 11 runs in the last 14 balls. Parag then bowled three consecutive overs and managed to take out his counterpart with a 76km side-arm under-cutter, resulting in Russell being sent up the batting order.
