Twitter Reactions: Andre Russell scripts late revival for Kolkata Knight Riders

The Rajasthan Royals arrived in to the all important Eliminator of IPL 2018 as the underdogs. They are up against the Kolkata Knight Riders, who have the home advantage to their name in the game. However, at the half way stage in the game, the Royals would believe that they have their noses ahead in the game. They have managed to restrict the KKR camp to a decent score in the first innings.

Considering the big stage, a huge total is something that the Kolkata Knight Riders would have like to have. In any case, they will still try to put the scoreboard pressure on the fragile Rajasthan Royals innings in the match. The stakes are high and the game has a clear outcome – the winner takes it all to meet Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Qualifier 2 of the season.

In the first innings, the Knight Riders were asked to bat first after the Royals’ skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss. His move proved to be absolutely spot on as K Gowtham struck twice in the powerplay to send Sunil Narine and Robin Uthappa back in the dug out for single digit scores. Jofra Archer joined the party to dismiss Nitish Rana and the KKR camp looked struggling at 24/3 in 3.4 overs. Chris Lynn showed some resistance for his 18 but perished soon after.

The onus was on the KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik to revive the fortunes of the innings. Karthik did a very good job to resurrect the KKR innings. He scored a brilliant 52 off 38 balls with four boundaries and a couple of sixes to his name. He found some good support from Shubman Gill who scored 28 off 17 deliveries.

In the end, it was Andre Russell’s attacking innings that propelled the total to a decent mark. He scored an unbeaten 49 off just 25 deliveries with 3 fours and 5 sixes to his name. His efforts helped Kolkata Knight Riders post 169/7 in their stipulated 20 overs. For the Royals, Gowtham, Archer, and Ben Laughlin bagged two wickets each.

Here is how the cricket world reacted to the Kolkata Knight Riders innings:

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