The Eden Gardens witnessed another special innings by their power hitter Andre Russell who took the SunRisers Hyderabad bowlers for a ride in their opening Indian Premier League (IPL) match on March 23.
Mass blockbuster! 🎬 pic.twitter.com/FcOkYhS5bk
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 23, 2024
The second match of the day saw KKR go from 119/6 to 208/7 in the first innings courtesy of an Andre Russell masterclass in Kolkata. With the home side struggling for runs at the 14-over mark, West Indies batter Andre Russell went beast mode as his 25-ball 64 fired KKR to a mammoth 208 runs in their 20 overs.
Striking at an unbelievable strike rate of 256, Russell hit 7 sixes and 3 boundaries in the latter stages of the innings to give Hyderabad a 209-run target to chase.
Andre Russell also got himself in some elite company after that knocks as he joins Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers as the only players to have scored 1,000 runs with a 200+ Strike Rate in the IPL in the final overs.
Earlier, KKR opener Phil Salt had some fun as well, hitting 3 sixes in the 2nd over to get the crowd warmed up on the night. His brilliant half-century paired with Russell’s fiery knock made sure that the early fall of wickets didn’t hinder their progress in the innings.
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer didn’t have an eventful return for his franchise as the Indian batter got sent back to the pavilion on a duck.
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