AGENCIES
BENGALURU
A magnificent 96-run partnership off 48 deliveries between Andre Russell and Yusuf Pathan powered the Kolkata Knight Riders to a five-wicket win in a high-scoring IPL encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday.
Pathan was a match-winner extraordinaire by smashing 60 off 29 balls with six fours and three sixes. Russell collected a swashbuckling 39 off 24 balls with one four and four sixes as the visitors reached 189 for five in 19.1 overs to eclipse the 185 for seven accumulated by the hosts.
Russell and Pathan joined forces on 69 for four after 10.1 overs. They annihilated the attack that erred by bowling too full to the two middle-order batsman who are renowned for their straight driving. Russell struck 17 off one over by Tabraiz Shamsi. Shane Watson disappeared for 24 in the 17th over as Pathan and Russell used brute force and timing to dispatch his fuller length deliveries. Shamsi conceded 51 in four overs, while Watson took 1-38 in three overs. Varun Aaron also came under fire, and Pathan and Russell scored the bulk of the extraordinary 120 runs that were added in the final nine overs.
Earlier, the Royal Challengers Bangalore slammed 185 for seven. Lokesh Rahul and Virat Kohli contributed 52 apiece. Rahul was more adventurous as he was entrusted with the role of enforcer following the cheap dismissal of Chris Gayle for 7.
RCB looked destined for a total of less than 160 on 131 for seven after 17 overs. But Watson, Sachin Baby and Stuart Binny did not read the script. They slammed 54 in the final three overs. Umesh Yadav came unstuck and conceded 41 runs in his return spell. Morné Morkel was the pick of the attack, taking 2-28. Russell nipped out 1-24 in a tidy four-over spell.
Kolkata opener Robin Uthappa had been in fine form this season, but Binny’s late swing accounted for him in the first over. Chris Lynn and Gautam Gambhir consolidated briefly before Yuzvendra Chahal produced a ripper of a leg-spinner to strike the off-stump of Lynn when on 15. Shane Warne would have been proud of that delivery that drifted through the air to bamboozle the Australian.
KKR limped to 34 for two after five overs. Gambhir continued to drive KKR and his assault produced 15 runs in the first over off the South African left-arm wrist spinner Tabraiz Shamsi. The KKR captain was adjudged trapped leg before wicket by the left-arm swing bowler Sreenath Aravind for 37.
Watson’s shorter delivery had Manish Pandey hole out to Sachin Baby for 8 at wide long on and KKR’s middle-order was wobbling on 69 for four. Chahal and Shamsi were tidy in their solitary overs in the middle period to leave KKR with 102 runs to score off 48 balls.
But Russell and Pathan are two mighty strikers. Russell made his move in the 15th over when he crushed two sixes over wide long on off Shamsi and smoked one past extra cover for a boundary. That proved to be the turning point. Chahal took 2-27, but the rest of the attack felt the brunt of the Pathan-led attack.
