Kolkata Knight Riders talismanic all-rounder Andre Russell credited the bowlers after their 18-run win against Mumbai Indians at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Saturday. In a reduced 16-over contest, KKR posted a par score of 157 runs on the board after Hardik Pandya decided to bowl first.
MI got off to a brisk start as Ishan Kishan took the attack against the KKR bowlers, helping his team post 59 runs in the field restrictions of five overs. However, KKR was able to bounce back as they struck at regular intervals in the middle overs.
Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers for KKR, returning with 2-17 in his quota of four overs. Furthermore, Andre Russell and Harshit Rana picked two wickets each. Moreover, Sunil Narine got the big wicket of dangerous Ishan Kishan, who scored 40 off 22 balls.
Meanwhile, Russell scored a crucial knock of 24 runs off 14 balls and added 39 runs with Nitish Rana to help KKR go past the 150-run mark.
Russell said after the game, “We batted first, so we knew it (pitch) was a bit sticky and something in it for the spinners as well. Based on our bowling attack we felt that was good enough. They got off to a good start, we pulled it back brilliantly. Our bowlers won it for us. He (SKY) is a 360 guy. I tried to keep it as simple as possible. I think it’s just about belief. The older you get the more experience you get. Have worked on my fitness and happy to do whatever the team needs. I have been doing as much talking as I can (to the team). We have a lot of youngsters. Everyone wants to do well. They listen to all the experienced guys and they are willing to learn.”
Chakravarthy was awarded Player of the Match for dismissing Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya. The mystery spinner has scalped 18 wickets in 12 matches of IPL 2024 at an average of 20.39.
Chakravarthy said in the post-match presentation, “The plan was to make him (Rohit) hit across the line, obviously there was help from the wicket and I was able to use it to my advantage. Tactically we (talking about Narine) are similar, but technically we are slightly different. The wickets were too flat initially, my bowling has been same from the first match and it is just that the results are showing up now.”
Kolkata Knight Riders will next take on Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Monday.
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