IPL 9, Match 32 Review: Russell’s brilliant last over seals a close win for KKR

Andre Russell bowled a cracking last over that capped off a memorable spell for him to gift his team Kolkata Knight Riders a win by 7 runs against Kings XI Punjab at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Batting first the hosts scored 164/3 which proved beyond the reach of the visitors by a narrow margin. Earlier in the evening, Punjab opted to bowl on a pitch that looked dry and cracked. While that seemed a straightforward decision by Murali Vijay, his team’s combination was rather striking for what it lacked- a fourth overseas player.

Injured Shaun Marsh’s spot was taken by Manan Vohra while Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and David Miller were retained by Punjab. The other change Kings XI made was bringing in Baroda left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh for KC Cariappa. Vijay did mention that Hashim Amla, their replacement for Marsh, had only arrived in India this afternoon and perhaps lack of time to prepare may have contributed to his exclusion.

Knight Riders made a significant change to their XI as well, dropping Sunil Narine for Brad Hogg. With Shakib Al Hasan’s return, they went into the match with three spinners, including Piyush Chawla. Chris Lynn had to sit out as well.

KKR lost all of their three wickets to run-outs but not before openers Robin Uthappa (70 off 49) and skipper Gautam Gambhir (54 off 45) gave them a perfect start. The right-hander looked in imperious mood from the outset and smashed 6 fours and 2 sixes in his knock while the southpaw contributed 6 fours and 1 six. The two heroes of the previous match though failed to get going for the hosts that ensured a good finish with the ball for the visitors.

Yusuf Pathan remained unbeaten on 19 off 16 balls having managed to hit only one six while Andre Russell faced 10 balls for his 16 runs that included a four and a six each. Sandeep Sharma (0/25) and Axar Patel (0/24) were the two most impressive and economical bowlers for Punjab.

The West Indian allrounder Russell showed his class with the ball and produced a spell of 4/20 that sealed the match for his team. He removed Stoinis (0 off 3) and Vohra (0 off 5) to reduce the visitors to 13/2 in 3 overs. Morne Morkel (1/27) then removed Vijay (6 off 11) to further the damage for Punjab. When W Saha (24 off 20) was cleaned up by Chawla in the 9th over while the visitors could just add 53 on the scoreboard.

Glenn Maxwell (68 off 42) though looked determined to stage a dramatic comeback and hit some superb boundaries. His knock featured 6 fours and 4 sixes before an attempted reverse hit brought his downfall. David Miller’s (13 off 18) struggle was ended by Russell with a full-toss however the arrival of Patel suddenly opened up the match. The left-hander smashed 21 off 7 balls including 1 fours and 2 sixes to bring the equation to 12 off 6 however he was run out in the last over due to a brilliant piece of fielding from Russell. Gurkeerat Singh (11 off 11) was also run out while Swapnil Singh (0 off 1) was lbw that completed a win for the home side.

Brief Scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders: 164/3 (R Uthappa 70, S Sharma (0/25)

Kings XI Punjab: 157/9 (G Maxwell 68; A Russell 4/20)

Man of the Match: Andre Russell (KKR)

How did Twitter react to the game? – Twitter Reactions: KKR beat KXIP in a thriller