KOLKATA, March 24: Andre Russell smashed an explosive 49 to spoil David Warner�s scintillating IPL comeback as Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off a dramatic six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, here on Sunday.
Needing 53 runs from last three overs, the powerful Jamaican changed the course of the match with his big-hitting against Siddharth Kaul, creaming off 19 runs from that over.
He retained the strike by taking a smart single and continued his assault on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who too bled 19 runs in the penultimate over as KKR sealed the 182-run chase with two balls to spare.
Russell hammered four sixes and an equal number of boundaries in run sequence that read 6-6-1-4-1-4-6-4-0-6-1. Youngster Shubman Gill (18 not out) completed the formalities with two sixes off Shakib-Al-Hasan.
Promoted to open with Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana made full use of the opportunity and kept them in the hunt with a 47-ball 68.
But he departed shortly after a 12-minute interruption caused by tower lights failure.
The momentum slowly shifted in favour of SRH but Russell in a matter of minutes changed the complexion of the match.
Earlier, Warner made a stupendous comeback with a scintillating 85, helping his side reach a challenging 181/3. � PTI
SCORECARD
Sunrisers Hyderabad: David Warner c Uthappa b A Russell 85, Jonny Bairstow b Chawla 39, Vijay Shankar not out 40, Yusuf Pathan b A Russell 1, Manish Pandey not out 8. Extras: (B-1, LB-4, W-2, NB-1) 8. Total: (For 3 wickets in 20 overs) 181. Fall of wickets: 118-1, 144-2, 152-3. Bowling: Prasidh Krishna 4-0-31-0, Piyush Chawla 3-0-23-1, Lockie Ferguson 4-0-34-0, Sunil Narine 3-0-29-0, Kuldeep Yadav 2-0-18-0, Andre Russell 3-0-32-2, Nitish Rana 1-0-9-0.
Kolkata Knight Riders: CA Lynn c Rashid Khan b Shakib Al Hasan 7, N Rana lbw b Rashid Khan 68, RV Uthappa b Kaul 35, KD Karthik c Kumar b Sandeep Sharma 2, AD Russell not out 49, Shubman Gill not out 18. Extras: (lb 1, w 3) 4. Total: (For 4 wickets in 19.4 overs) 183. Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-87, 3-95, 4-118. Bowling: B Kumar 4-0-37-0, Shakib Al Hasan 3.4-0-42-1, Sandeep Sharma 4-0-42-1, S Kaul 4-0-35-1, Rashid Khan 4-0-26-1.
