IPL 2023 | Twitter reacts as Russellā€™s heroics lead KKR to five-wicket triumph over PBKS

SportsCafe Desk

By SportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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Kolkata Knight Riders kept their hopes of making it to the playoffs alive with their fifth win of the campaign to leapfrog Punjab Kings and move into fifth. The visitors, meanwhile, slumped to their second consecutive defeat to slip into eighth with just three games to go in the season.

Punjab Kings failed to fully capitalize on their decision to bat first against hosts Kolkata Knight Riders as wickets fell at regular intervals throughout their innings. The first blow came in the second over itself with the dismissal of Prabhsimran Singh before Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Liam Livingstone followed suit, leaving the team reeling at 58/3 at the end of the powerplay. A 53-run stand for the fourth wicket between Shikhar Dhawan and Jitesh Sharma helped Punjab stabilize proceedings, the former leading the way with a 47-ball 57, but the duo succumbed in the space of 13 balls to leave the scoreboard reading 124/5 with five overs to go. Varun Chakravarthy further piled on the pressure by getting rid of Rishi Dhawan, his third scalp of the day, only for things to go haywire in the end. Shahrukh Khan and Harpreet Brar played flamboyant cameos, contributing 38 runs in total at a strike rate of 200-plus, to take the side to a competitive total.

Chasing 180, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Jason Roy dealt in boundaries early on and despite the formerā€™s dismissal in the fifth over, the Purple Army tallied a decent 52/1 in the powerplay. Royā€™s stay at the crease ended eight balls later for a well-made 38 at a strike rate of nearly 160, paving the path for the Kings to fight their way back into the game. A sluggish cameo from Venkatesh Iyer further provided the opposition impetus but Nitish Rana kept KKRā€™s hopes alive at the other end. The skipper was the aggressor-in-chief in their partnership of 51 off 38 deliveries ā€“ which was incidentally exactly what Rana managed as well. By the time both fell to Rahul Chahar, the home side needed 56 to win at 12 runs an over. Andre Russell re-ignited the home crowdā€™s hopes with a swashbuckling 42, his three sixes in the penultimate over of the game inching the side closer to victory. However, it was Rinku Singh once again who hammered the final nail in the oppositionā€™s coffin with a last-ball boundary, completing a match-winning cameo of 21 off just 10 balls.Ā 

Russell-mania

Unbelievable

Power packed

Jaile time incoming

Perfect finish

The OG

Just KKR things

Correct

Eden Gardens on fire

Russell muscled PBKS

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