IPL 2019: Match 6, KKR vs KXIP - Who Said What

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have registered their second consecutive victory in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). They are always a force to reckon with in front of their home crowd and the team has started well winning both of their matches at the Eden Gardens. The ‘R’ factor worked for the KKR against the Kings XI Punjab on the day.

Nitish Rana began the onslaught with the bat. He came out to bat at 36/2 in the fifth over and literally timed everything from the middle of his bat. He smashed 63 off just 34 deliveries with two fours and seven massive sixes during his stay at the crease. Robin Uthappa also matched his hitting and most importantly, he played through the innings and made sure that the momentum never slipped away from the team.

He remained unbeaten on 67 off 50 balls with six fours and two gigantic maximums. However, the real impetus to the innings was given by Andre Russell who was lucky. He made Punjab pay for their basic mistake and slammed 48 runs off just 17 deliveries to power KKR to 218 runs after 20 overs.

Punjab never in the chase

The Kings XI Punjab were always behind the eight ball in the chase. They lost the likes of KL Rahul and Chris Gayle very early which dented their hopes severely. Mayank Agarwal and David Miller‘s 74-run stand kept them in the hunt but one felt that they needed a Russell-like blitz from someone which never came.

Both, Mayank and Miller, slammed half-centuries but it only decreased the margin of the defeat. Even Mandeep Singh played a crucial hand but to no avail. Eventually, the KXIP could only reach 190 runs for the loss of four wickets as they fell short of the target by 28 runs. The KKR are now at the top of the points table with two wins in as many matches and will be looking to be consistent going forward.

Man of the Match, Andre Russell said:

I think I have to make a bigger garage with all these cars and awards (smiles). Well done to the guys for playing good cricket. Gayle is like a brother to me, the bigger legend. To get him out early was great. The plan was to bowl tight to him and restrict him.

I am happy that I could get the job done. We discussed and executed our plays for KL Rahul as well. Today I hit some big ones, but he (Gayle) is still the bigger hitter. Thanks to that guy was outside the ring. It’s the new guy, I forgot his name, but well done. Thank you.

When I got bowled, I was like. Mmmm I missed it. But then when I saw the umpire check for the no-ball I was like please God let this be a free-hit for front foot, but it was given for the fielder’s mistake.

KKR skipper, Dinesh Karthik said:

Obviously a good start to the tournament for us. The way Nitish played was beautiful. Got to give credit to Robbie for playing through and the start was very good as well. Obviously Russell’s finish was great. It was clear that when Sunil was back from his injury, he had to bat at the top. Always playing away is a good challenge.

KXIP skipper, Ravi Ashwin said:

Look I mean we weren’t focused on small things. Small things cost you in this game. We need to be attentive to the small things for the next game. I take the blame on myself (talking about the no-ball). I should have had a look at him (Varun Chakravarthy or Hardus Viljoen).

He of course was a debutant and would do better from here on. The way Varun Chakravarthy bowled in the 15th over to Uthappa and Rana was a big positive. We also learnt coming over to KKR in terms of handling one small boundary on one side and a bigger one on the other side.

Mayank batted well despite wickets going down. I thought about 200 was par for this track and that is where the smaller mistakes cost us. We played four games at Mohali and won all four over there. It is important to win games on the bounce.

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