Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Andre Russell said pacers after his team beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by four runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Harshit Rana was hoping to get the last over and praised the return of the young pacer who conceded 6 runs in the final over while defending 13 runs. Despite Russell’s stellar performance, SRH’s Heinrich Klaasen threatened to spoil KKR’s party with some big sixes to overshadow the IPL comeback of Mitchell Starc, who has a bonus of over Rs 24 crore. But it didn’t mean victory for SRH as Harshit managed to keep his cool and defend 13 runs in the final over, despite Klassen hitting his early six. Harshit went on to take two wickets, including the one of Klassen.

After the match, Russell, who was crowned the Man of the Match with fifty and two wickets, said in his speech: “It fully demonstrated his (Harshit’s) character. He told me that he wanted to play the last game and he Claim that and then he came back strong to score six after the first ball.”

About his batting and contribution to KKR’s victories over the years, the slugger said: “Sometimes something comes up on my Instagram and I realize how well I have batted. It shows that you are doing well. I try to react to whatever comes my way. In the last two years, the bowlers have had their plans against me. I’ve been digging runs and I know everyone has a plan against me.”

“I came on the bench early and just tried to make myself useful. This team means a lot to me and what I did tonight was just prove how much this jersey means to me. Hopefully I can continue Behave like this,” he concluded.

SRH batted first and KKR were reduced to 51/4 in 7.3 overs. However, Phil Salt’s half-century (54 off 40 balls with three fours and three sixes) and Ramandeep Singh’s explosive knock (35 off 17 balls, four and four sixes) maintained the team’s run rate well, but they still struggled at 119/6 in 13.5 overs.

Next up, Andre Russell (64 off 25 balls with 3 fours and 7 sixes) and Rinku Singh (23 off 15 balls with 3 fours) )’s explosive 67-run partnership took KKR to 208/7 in 20 overs.

T Natrajan (3/32) and Mayank Markande (2/32) are SRH’s top bowlers.

Chasing 209 runs, SRH got off to a good start with Mayank Agarwal (32 off 21 balls with 4 boundaries and 2 sixes) and Abhishek Sharma (32 off 19 balls with 4 boundaries and 2 sixes) A good start. The team lost its way and were soon at 145/5 in 16.5 overs.

However, Heinrich Klaasen (63 off 29 balls including 8 sixes) and Shahbaz Ahmed (16 off 5 balls including 4 sixes) ball and 2 sixes) failed to hit a string of sixes near the end to bowl out pacer Mitchell Starc for over Rs. Scoring 26 runs in his over, his first figures for KKR ended with 0/53 in four overs. 13 runs were needed in the final over, but Harshit Rana (3/33) controlled his nerves, took two wickets and defended the remaining runs.

Andre Russell was awarded the Man of the Match award for his half-century and figures of 2/25.

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