IPL 2019: When a small mistake from KXIP saw Andre Russell murdering them

It’s two out of two for Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) captain Ravi Ashwin. On Monday, the off-spinner faced an outrage after ‘Mankading’ Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler which saw his team winning the game in Jaipur. On Wednesday, the Kings’ captain found himself in yet another situation and this time he was at the receiving end. The opponents were Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on this occasion and the venue was Eden Gardens.

It so happened that KXIP pacer Mohammed Shami castled KKR’s Andre Russell with a brilliant yorker in the final delivery of the 17th over. The KXIP players were elated to see the Caribbean giant’s back, particularly after the murderous knock that he played against Sunrisers Hyderabad a few days ago at the same ground. But the celebration was temporary as the umpires found out that only three fielders were inside the 30-yard circle while there should have been four.

To the utter disbelief of the Kings, Russell walked back to take a stance as Shami’s brilliant delivery was declared invalid because of breach of fielding rules. Russell was on three at the time of getting a life. When he eventually returned to the hut, he had scored 48 off 17 balls in yet another massacre and helped his team post a match-winning total of 218 for 4.

Russell went berserk in the next two overs after getting lifeline

In the next two overs after that incident, Russell plundered runs at will, making Punjab concede 47 runs out of which 43 came from his bat. He lifted Shami for three consecutive sixes in the next over that the Indian pacer bowled. Russell later took the wickets of his compatriot Chris Gayle and Sarfaraz Khan to end up as the Man of the Match.

Although Mayank Agarwal (58), David Miller (59 not out) and Mandeep Singh (33 not out) tried to make a match of it, the Kings finally fell short of the KKR’s total by 28 runs. Dinesh Karthik’s side also managed to bag the first position in the table with two wins from as many matches.

Russell picked his second Man of the Match award in the tournament with identical performances. Against Hyderabad, he scored 49 not out off 19 balls after taking two wickets and on Wednesday, he slammed five sixes and three boundaries en route 48. Ashwin was livid after the umpires called the ball that dismissed Russell invalid but couldn’t help things as the KKR batsman returned to the crease and unleash the terror.

In the post-match presentation, the offie took the blame on himself, saying: “We weren’t really focussed on the small things and they do cost you big in this format. Yes, we definitely have to look at it next game. I’ll take the blame.”

Here is KKR’s squad for IPL 2019

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