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Mumbai, April 1
Umesh Yadav continued his dream run with a four-wicket haul before Andre Russell returned to his brutal best to fire Kolkata Knight Riders to an easy six-wicket win over Punjab Kings here today.
Umesh (4/23), coming into the season with just two games over two IPL seasons and going unsold initially at the auction, produced a career-best T20 figures to help KKR dismiss Punjab for a below-par 137 in 18.2 overs.
It was supposed to be a straightforward chase but Rahul Chahar raised Punjab’s hopes with a double-wicket maiden to reduced KKR to 51/4.
However, Russell (70 not out off 31 balls) came out in the middle and changed the game with his barrage of sixes, eight in total, to make it a cakewalk in just 14.3 overs. He smashed three sixes off Odean Smith in an over that went for 30 runs.
No boundary is long enough when Russell is going all guns blazing and he was on fire tonight. The Jamaican dasher fittingly ended the game with a couple of sixes off Liam Livingstone’s friendly leg-breaks.
It was KKR’s second win in three games while Punjab suffered their first loss of the season after the win over RCB. —
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