Mumbai: Umesh Yadav continued
his dream run with a four-wicket haul before Andre Russell returned to his
brutal best to fire KKR to an easy six-wicket win over Punjab Kings on Friday.
Umesh (4/23), coming into the
season with just two games over two IPL seasons and going unsold initially at
the auction, produced career-best T20 figures to help KKR dismiss Punjab for
137 in 18.2 overs.
It was supposed to be a
straight forward chase but Rahul Chahar raised Punjab's hopes with a double
wicket maiden to reduced KKR to 51 for four.
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 rope is long enough when
Russell is going all guns blazing and he was in that kind of zone on Friday
night. The Jamaican dasher fittingly ended the game with a couple of sixes off
Liam Livingtsone'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.
Earlier, KKR bowlers stifled a
power-laden Punjab Kings batting line-up. With heavy dew setting in later half
of the games, fielding first has become a no-brainer this IPL and KKR skipper
Shreyas Iyer called it right at the toss. Punjab, which had successfully chased
200 plus in their opening game, enjoyed a good powerplay that yielded 62 for 3
in six overs.
Veteran pacer Umesh, who has
been proving his critics wrong this season., once again provided the
breakthrough early in the game, removing opposition skipper Mayank Agarwal, who
was found plumb in front after missing a rather straight and full delivery in
the first over of the match.
Sri Lankan Bhanuka Rajapaksa (31
off 9) who had produced a match-winning knock in the first game, looked in
sensational touch at the Wankhede Stadium.
In his brief stay in the
middle, the top-order batter hammered three fours and as many sixes, mostly
towards the mid-wicket region, leaving the spectators in awe. His breathtaking
effort was perhaps the lone bright in an otherwise underwhelming innings.
Iyer impressed with his leadership. He brought back Umesh in the middle overs to ensure there was no fightback from Punjab. He also employed a slip in the 15th over and was rewarded for that with the wicket of Rahul Chahar. His new ball partner Tim Southee and KKR's retained spinners Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine were also too good for the Punjab batters. Livingstone (19 off 16) could convert his start while India U-19 star Raj Angad Bawa found the going tough for the second game in a row. Kagisa Rabada (25 off 16), playing his first game of the seasons, saved Punjab the blushes by getting much needed boundaries to take the total close to 140. (PTI)
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