Andre Russell took the plaudits after his brutal hitting got the Kolkata Knight Riders out of trouble.
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Chasing the Kings XI Punjab’s total of 156, a middle order collapse prompted by the new ball antics of Sandeep Sharma, briefly threatened a second defeat for KKR.
But Russell’s 66 – contributing the bulk of a 95-run partnership with Yusuf Pathan – saw them home by four wickets with a little more than two overs to spare.
The final result certainly appeared more comfortable than the reality and KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir paid tribute to his match winner.
IPL 8 KXIP vs KKR: Andre Russell (66),Yusuf Pathan (28) power #KKR to 4-wicket win. #KKRvsKXIP http://t.co/uOIOESJqHY pic.twitter.com/HORFpAAgwx
— KKR Knight Riders (@kkrofficial) April 18, 2015
“There is a lot of fearlessness about Russell and Surya (Yadav),” he said. “Credit needs to go to the entire support-staff. We knew if we could take the game till the end and if Russell stays there, we could win.
“Russell did it in the Champions League as well. We want these kind of characters to go out there and express themselves.”
Russell felt it was his best IPL innings yet, adding: “We were positive. Yusuf gave me the strike and I was happy for the win. I am going to rate this performance as my best.”
The KKR top order all got starts but failed to kick on, finding Sharma in inspired form. He had Robin Uthappa (13) leg before in the third over, Manish Pandey (12) caught at midwicket in his next, before returning with a double wicket maiden to knock over Gambhir (11) and Ryan ten Doeschate (0).
Man of the Match: Andre Russell for his brilliant and outstanding performance. #KKR
— KKR Knight Riders (@kkrofficial) April 18, 2015
All of a sudden KKR had slipped from 60 for 2 to 60 for 5 and the result was firmly in the balance.
But Russell took 19 off an Axar Patel over to provide the turning point and King’s XI skipper George Bailey admitted his side didn’t fell short with both bat and ball.
He said: “Full credit to Russell. We did not do either of the disciplines well. Russell threw away our plans.
“Yusuf reined in his natural game and played along with Russell. We need a kick up the backside. We are playing two top teams next – Chennai and Rajasthan. If that doesn’t do it, then nothing will do it.”
Earlier, Kings XI were in trouble right from the off. M Vijay, Virender Sehwag and Wriddhiman Saha all went cheaply before Bailey (60) and Glenn Maxwell (33) set about a salvage job.
But once Yadav removed Maxwell nobody could provide the support Bailey needed to post a more competitive total.
