Published: Apr 02, 2022, 07:26 AM (IST)
Edited: Apr 02, 2022, 07:26 AM (IST)
Mumbai: At 61 for four at the Wankhede stadium while chasing 138 to win, it seemed that Punjab Kings would take the game down to the wire against Kolkata Knight Riders. But then, Andre Russell had other ideas. Russell took a couple of sighters and then started sending the ball over the ropes. Eventually, his 31-ball 70* made it a cakewalk for KKR, who won the match by six wickets and 33 balls to spare. Russell’s blitz was laced with eight huge sixes and two boundaries.
After the loss, Mayank heaped praise on Russell. “We showed some real fight with the ball initially and then Dre Russ came in and got going. Credit to him for taking the game away from us like that. I think it was a 170ish wicket. We started off well but could not capitalize, there were a few soft dismissals. But it is fine as it is the start of the tournament. They (bowlers) pulled it back nicely for us with 4 for 50 we were in the game, but Russell took the game away,” Mayank said at the post-match presentation.
It was KKR’s second win in three games while Punjab suffered their first loss of the season after the win over RCB. Earlier, KKR bowlers stifled a power-laden Punjab Kings batting line-up.
With heavy dew setting in later half of the games, fielding first has become a no-brainer this IPL and KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer called it right at the toss.
While KKR would like to continue their winning momentum, Punjab would like to get back to winning ways.
