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IPL 2024 | All-Round Russell, Calm Harshit Rana Help KKR Survive Klaasen’s Blitz In Thriller

Andre Russell celebrating a wicket (BCCI)Andre Russell celebrating a wicket (BCCI)

Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders: 208-7 (20 overs) [Andre Russell: 64 (25), Phil Salt: 54 (40); T Natarajan 3/32 (4), Mayank Markande 2/39 (4)] defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad: 204-7 (20 overs) [Heinrich Klaasen: 63 (29), Abhishek Sharma: 32 (19); Harshit Rana 3/33 (4), Andre Russell 2/25 (2)] by four runs.

KKR held off Heinrich Klaasen’s six-hitting rampage to secure a narrow win over SRH in match number three of the IPL 2024 season at the Eden Gardens.

Salt’s 54, Russell blizzard shoots KKR up to 208

After losing the toss and being tasked to bat first, KKR opener Phil Salt clobbered three successive sixes off SRH fast bowler Marco Jansen in just the second over of the innings. 

However, Salt’s early batting bombardment was succeeded by a slew of wickets at the other end; with opening partner Sunil Narine, number three Venkatesh Iyer, captain Shreyas Iyer and number five Nitish Rana all failing to touch the double-digit mark.

SRH speedster T Natarajan himself struck twice in his opening over inside the Powerplay by getting rid of Venkatesh and Shreyas in the space of three deliveries. Meanwhile, Rana’s dismissal at the hands of leg-spinner Mayank Markande made KKR slip further down to 51-4 in 7.3 overs.

Well-set opener Salt carried on from his end by shaping up a 54-run fifth-wicket partnership with Ramandeep Singh. 

The latter of the two himself lifted KKR’s run-scoring charge in the middle overs by bashing four huge sixes in his 17-ball 35 to take his team past the 100-run mark. 

The England-based opener, on the other hand, listed three more boundaries to produce a fine half-century before becoming Markande’s second victim of the innings.

At 119-6 in 14 overs, Andre Russell muscled his way to take KKR to a monumental 208-7 by the completion of their 20 overs. 

The West Indian powerhouse blasted seven sixes and three boundaries in his unbeaten 25-ball 64-run knock, and even received much support through Rinku Singh’s brief 23 as the two leathered SRH bowlers at the death.

Natarajan emerged as the pick of the SRH bowling group from the high-scoring innings, picking up three wickets at the expense of just 32 runs from his four overs.

Six-dealing Klaasen nearly pulls off an SRH heist

Chasing 209 for an improbable win, SRH openers Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma slapped 32 each to provide a swift launching pad at the top. After their sudden dismissals at the hands of Harshit Rana and Andre Russell respectively, Rahul Tripathi and former skipper Aiden Markram cautiously steered SRH past the 100-run mark with identical cameos.

Just as the two middle-order stars had acclimatized themselves at the crease, their successive departures, followed by Abdul Samad’s dismissal left SRH struggling at 145-5.

With 76 runs required off the final four overs, South African batting heavyweight Heinrich Klaasen launched an all-out six-hitting assault alongside Shahbaz Ahmed at the death. Klaasen himself matched Andre Russell’s batting exhibition by launching eight sixes to smack a whirlwind 29-ball 63.

However, he had his thunderous outburst curtailed by a calm Harshit Rana in the final over as KKR secured a four-run victory in a high-scoring thriller. Rana finished with astonishing figures of 3-33 while Andre Russell claimed two to cap a remarkable all-round performance.