KKR recorded their first win with the help of Russell’s knock against SRH
IPL has begun. Yes, by witnessing the match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) we can say it more excitingly. A good game of cricket with making and breaking of records.
The match began with KKR winning the toss and opting to bowl first. SRH batsmen were put to test first.
SRH Playing XI – D Warner, J Bairstow (wk), M Pandey, D Hooda, S Al Hasan, V Shankar, Y Pathan, R Khan, B Kumar*, Sandeep Sharma, S Kaul.
SRH openers gave a brilliant start and stitched a partnership of 118 runs. David Warner smashed 85 runs off 53 balls. With the 37th half century, Warner broke the record of Gautam Gambhir of the most number of half-centuries in IPL. Jonny Bairstow and Vijay Shankar’s knock of 39 0ff 35 and 40 0ff 24 respectively helped SRH to make a standout total of 181 runs.
Now it was KKR’s turn to chase the score.
KKR Playing XI – C Lynn, S Narine, R Uthappa, S Gill, N Rana, D Karthik* (wk), A Russell, P Chawla, K Yadav, L Ferguson, P Krishna.
The start for KKR was shaky. Opener Chris Lynn was dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan in second over for just 7 runs. After Lynn’s dismissal, Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana formed a partnership of 80 runs. Uthappa was given a lifeline by Yusuf Pathan as he dropped his catch. Though, he was not able to make the lifeline a big one and was sent back to the pavilion with 35 runs in his scorecard.
With rising run rate, Dinesh Kartik also went off early for just 2 runs. Nitish Rana smacked 68 runs off 47 balls but lost his wicket to Rashid Khan at a crucial stage of the match.
Andre Russell came out as a Knight in the shining armor for KKR. Russell scored 49 0ff just 19 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes. His knock proved out to be a match-winning knock. With 53 needed in just 3 overs, Russell did not miss any shot and scored 19 runs in 18th over and 21 runs in the 19th over. The final over came up with 13 runs required for the win.
Russell and Shubham Gill in a rush to finish scored the winning runs with 2 balls still remaining and won their first match in the season. The man of the match was awarded to Andre Russell for his brilliant performance. Also, King Khan was spotted enjoying around with the team after the win.
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