Russell hits crucial fifty as KKR snatch one run win over RR

Kolkata: Two off nine balls. That’s where Andre Russell was at one point but he doesn’t panic or fret. In a format where every ball is an event, Russell can be amazingly convincing in the way he converts slow starts. So, where Riyan Parag and Maheesh Theekshana probably thought Russell had been checked adequately, the game had actually been set up for a sensory overload. Next 16 balls? 55 runs, a roller coaster ride that seemed to be auto-calibrating its route every ball, sending Eden Gardens into a tizzy and Rajasthan Royals scrambling for desperate changes.

Russell had his way though, as did KKR ultimately, but not before they had their hearts in their mouths as Parag and Shimron Hetmyer added 92 for the sixth wicket and set up a nerve-wracking finish. Needing 22 off the last over from pacer Vaibhav Arora, Shubham Dubey hit 6, 4, 6 to bring down the equation to three from one. Arora went for a yorker, Dubey jammed it towards Rinku Singh — KKR’s best fielder any day — at long-on and set off for two. Rinku charged at the ball, unleashed a flat throw at the bowler’s end Jofra Archer was sprinting to, giving Arora ample time to whip off the bails and give KKR a one-run win.

Nearly there has been the prefix to quite a few Rajasthan Royals matches this season, and not for the first time Parag was in a position to change it. Five sixes off Moeen Ali propelled him to 75 from 31 balls, and with Hetmyer (29 off 23) going great guns as well, the game was on. Hetmyer then carted Narine for six but Harshit Rana broke the partnership with a well-directed short delivery that reared up on Hetmyer as he tried to hook. That somehow prompted Parag to slow down till Rana got him to hole out at long-on five runs short of what would have been his maiden T20 hundred. “I was planning to stay till the last two overs, but unfortunately got out,” said Parag. “It was a miscalculation from my side. No one to blame but ourselves; we should have finished it.”

No team is ever represented by the image of one man alone. Sunday was different though. When KKR’s innings seemed to be going nowhere at the start, the batting order was quickly shuffled for Russell to go big or go home. Venkatesh Iyer demoted, Rinku Singh asked to wait, KKR were not holding back. Ratcheting up the tension was the agonising wait though Russell was struggling to read the turn as well as the lack of it. He wasn’t perturbed though. “I never worry about dot balls but I realised the wicket was gripping,” said Russell during the innings break. “I didn’t want to take a risk against Theekshana at the start so when he came back to bowl, I took him on.”

Before it came, a small but ominous trailer against Akash Madhwal and Archer, Russell smashing 24 runs off them in six balls. Spin was always Russell’s kryptonite so Riyan Parag brought back Theekshana. However, Russell was ready. First ball, he hung back in the crease to muscle him over wide long-on for six. Next ball, an even bigger six, this time over the bowler’s head after Theekshana pitched it up. Going wide was the only option left for the Sri Lankan spinner but Russell this time launched him over long-off for his third six. Archer came back, only to be carted for six and four in consecutive balls before Madhwal’s nerve got the better of him as he conceded three wides to Russell in the last over.

Rinku had joined by then, and was itching to join the party. So, when Russell finally ran for a single, he didn’t hold back, pulling Madhwal through midwicket for four before smoking two full tosses for vital sixes. The Powerplay — 56 runs at 9.33 per over — seemed to set KKR up for at least 180 but the middle overs had started a recalibration of the expectations. Enter Russell though and KKR ended up adding 85 runs in the last five overs, a finish RR failed to match despite giving the defending champions a run for their money.

Brief scores: KKR 206/4 (A Russell 57*); RR 205/8 (R Parag 95, M Ali 2/43, H Rana 2/41, V Chakravarthy 2/32). KKR won by one run.