Andre Russell hits 19-ball fifty to send Kolkata Knight Riders top
Saturday 9 May 2015 16:56, UK
Andre Russell scored the joint-fastest fifty of the 2015 Indian Premier League as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Kings XI Punjab by just one wicket in a thrilling contest at Eden Gardens.
Russell matched Harbhajan Singh’s 19-ball effort for the Mumbai Indians, but fell two balls later for 51.
Sunil Narine took 4-19 for Kolkata but they were still set a tricky target of 184 by Kings XI, with Glenn Maxwell (43 off 22 balls) finding some form.
Kings XI batted first after winning the toss and got off to a solid start with openers Murali Vijay (28 off 21) and Manan Vohra (39 off 34) getting starts.
Both were dismissed by Narine though, Vijay bowled in the sixth over and Vohra caught by the West Indian leg-spinner off his own bowling in the 11th.
That brought Maxwell to the crease at 78-2. With a top-score of just 33 so far in the tournament, Maxwell has been dropped from the side for spells but he was back to his best here.
He smoked four fours and three sixes, before he too fell to Narine – top-edging one to Johan Botha at deep midwicket.
Wriddhiman Saha (33 off 25) became Narine’s fourth victim three balls later, but a handy 27 from just 11 balls from David Miller helped fire Kings XI to 183-5 from their 20 overs.
Kolkata lost wickets at regular intervals in their reply, with openers Robin Uthappa (17) and Gautam Gambhir (24) dismissed by Anureet Singh and Gurkeerat Singh, and Maxwell accounting for Manish Pandey (22) sandwiched in between.
The impressive Gurkeerat (2-17) then bowled Suryakumar Yadav for nine to reduce the hosts to 83-4 in the 11th over.
That brought Russell to the crease though and he along with Yusuf Pathan (29 off 19) helped swing the momentum back in Kolkata’s favour.
But when Russell fell – caught behind off Axar Patel – the Knight Riders still needed 25 from the final three overs and had only four wickets in hand.
Johan Botha was run-out three balls and just two runs later to add to the nerves in the Kolkata crowd, but a couple of boundaries from Piyush Chawla (18 off 11) helped them to a manageable eight needed from the final over.
Brad Hogg (five) and Chawla both fell in the final over but a six from the latter in between the strikes meant just a single was needed for the win from the last-wicket pair with two balls reamining.
A leg-bye from the penultimate ball ended things and sent Kolkata to the top of the IPL table.
