The West Indies duo of Andre Russell and Sunil Narine played supporting roles, but helped lift Kolkata Knight Riders to a crucial five-run win against Sunrises Hyderabad in yet another last-over thriller in the Indian Premier League at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad recently.
Russell scored 24 from 15 balls and Narine made only one. But some impactful knocks of 42 off 31 balls from Nitish Rana and 46 off 35 balls from Rinku Singh helped KKR recover from an early stutter and posted a competitive 171 for nine from their allocated 20 overs after they decided to bat first.
On the field, Russell pouched a fine catch to dismiss Abishek Sharma for nine off Shardul Thakur in the fourth over to sink Sunrises to 37 for 2. Two overs later, he grabbed the scalp of Rahul Tripathi caught at deep fine line for 20 and finished with one for 15 from his only over.
Narine made less of an impact, conceding 16 from 2 wicket-less overs. The KKR needed disciplined bowling in the slog overs to clinch a thrilling win with leg-spinner Varun Chakaravarthy defending nine off the last over.
KKR displayed nerves of steel under pressure to take their fourth win in 10 matches for 8 points and gave Sunrisers their sixth loss from 9 matches, leaving them stuck on 6 points.
It was a brilliant comeback for KKR after Sunrisers captain Aiden Markram hit 41 off 40 balls, Heinrich Klaasen made 36 off 20 balls and Marco Jansen posted 28 off 25 balls. Sunrisers needed 20 from the last 11 balls but KKR produced a great comeback to win the match.
