Mumbai: Chasing 138-run target, Andre Russell smashed 70 not out off 31 balls to help Kolkata Knight Riders crushed Punjab Kings by six wickets at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai. KKR chased down the target in just 14.3 overs.
Earlier, opting to bowl first, pacer Umesh Yadav took four for 23 to help Kolkata Knight Riders bowl out Punjab Kings for 137. Regular wickets hampered the progress for Punjab and they were all out in 18.2 overs.
Umesh Yadav, MoM, said, ‘I need to work hard. Getting older and when you know you play just one format, I look to bowl as much as possible. When someone improves at practice, they do well during the match as well. I didn’t think Mayank would charge at me on his first ball. He has played me a lot in the nets. I knew he would play off the back foot, and that’s where I looked to bowl on a fuller length. Whatever is happening now, has been because of what I have practised with my coaches. If you bowl at 140kph, you need to be accurate, you need to bowl at the stumps.’
Shreyas Iyer, Winning captain, said ‘We were stunned by Punjab’s approach. We didn’t expect them to come so hard at us in the initial overs after losing an early wicket. But that’s what I looked to do as well. We got early wickets in the powerplay. My plan was to keep my best bowlers for their hard-hitters. And that’s why I kept Varun and Sunil for late. They made my job easy. They come out with their own strategies. They know what their plans are for the batsmen. They know what they are doing. To be honest, it was great to see Russell hitting. It was Russell Muscle. Umesh told me that he was getting older, but I told him that he was getting fitter. I see him wherever I go, at the gym, and he is working very hard. I know how to get the work done from him, and he has been a wonderful colleague’.
Andre Russell, said, ‘ Feeling awesome, this is the reason why we play the game. In that position, I know what I can do. It was good to have someone at the crease like Sam who can rotate and help us stick through the tough time. Once I started sweating, I just said that I am gonna go. I backed my ability and that’s what I did tonight. I am happy to bring the team over the line. I am happy to do whatever the team requires. I am looking to bowl in the death. If the captain wants me to bowl one in the powerplay, I am more than happy to do that but we have a good amount of bowlers. We have a few guys that can actually chip in one or two as well. I know in some games I won’t be bowling four but if at least I bowl two overs, I can feel a part of the game and feel like an all-rounder. These things do happen, some games it’s gonna be easy and I may not bowl a ball. I am happy to take the batting as well, hit some sixes and do whatever I can do to contribute for the team. We were a couple of wickets down, behind me was Sunil and then the other bowlers. I knew we were the two guys who’ll definitely look to get a partnership. I told Sam, ‘listen, let’s just bat a few overs and see what happens.’ But we had to attack earlier because the left-arm orthodox wasn’t spinning the ball and nothing was happening. So we decided to take charge from one end and look to get singles from the other end. Chahar was bowling extremely well, it was gripping as well. We didn’t want to take much chance against him. We knew it’d get easier. I am going to say one (when asked how many he got off the middle).’
Mayank Agarwal, Punjab captain, said, ‘ We didn’t bat well enough. 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. There were a lot of positives to take away.’