World Cup win gave me confidence to come out and play fiercely: Andre Russell

The Gautam Gambhir-led Kolkata Knight Riders registered a very easy 9 wicket win over the Delhi Daredevils at their home ground Eden Garden to give a winning start to their IPL campaign. KKR bowling attack led by Andre Russell (3/24) along with Brad Hogg (3/19), Piyush Chawla (2/21) and John Hastings (2/6) ransacked the Daredevils batting order, bundling them out for a paltry 98 in the first innings. In reply, KKR opener Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir gave a quickfire start to the chase enabling the team reached home effortlessly with 9 wickets in hand and 5.5 overs to spare.

Andre Russell was named as the Man of the Match for his superb bowling effort with the new ball. Speaking at the presentation ceremony Russell said: “We have to adjust to any surface. It wasn’t the fastest wicket, not slow either. Short ball was tacky. The World Cup win ago gave me confidence to come out and play fiercely. If I had the chance to bat, I might have tried to do something destructive. When things go your way, you should keep going. I didn’t think it would spin much but our spinners gave it a nice rip. Even the other bowlers complemented well.”

Winning skipper Gautam Gambhir credited his bowler for the commanding win. Gambhir said: “The way Russell started, a lot of credit to the bowlers for restricting them to 98. We weren’t sure as to what will be a good total so decided to bowl first. It’s a small ground here making it easier to chase. I thought that someone had to bat through which is what professional teams do. Robin batted unbelievably, some of the shots were unbelievable. I have been playing after a long time, so I’m happy to get some runs under the bag. We have all bases covered so it doesn’t matter what we get [in terms of pitches]. Lots of people say that we ask for specific track but that’s not true.”

Newly appointed captain Zaheer Khan would have expected a winning start for his team but unfortunately his batsman let him down. Zaheer said: “You learn every day. I was trying to swing it too much. Playing a game after a long time. Happy with how the fast bowlers put their hand up. IPL is such a long tournament, every team is going to have one bad game. And this was our first and last bad game and it’s out of the way. We are giving them freedom. T20 is such a fast game, we want the intensity. Everyone works on their game. 120 could have been close on this track. This team is all about letting them express themselves on the field freely.”