Kuldeep lauds Russell, says his knock made the difference
Andre Russell’s unbeaten innings of 49 off 25 played a crucial factor and helped KKR get the right total on the board to defend.
Published : May 24, 2018 11:08 IST
Andre Russell’s unbeaten innings of 49 off 25 played a crucial factor and helped KKR get the right total on the board to defend. Kuldeep Yadav extolled the contribution of the Jamaican all-rounder who hit a barrage of sixes in his hurricane knock to resurrect the KKR innings.
“He (Russell) played an extraordinary innings of 49. We were looking at a total of 140-145 runs but ended up on a good score of 169 thanks to the way he batted. He truly deserves the man-of-the-match,” Yadav said after the match.
The Chinaman bowler said the two wickets of Rahane, which he secured, and that of Sanju Samson by Piyush Chawla secured the win for KKR.
Read: Karthik, Russell get the job done for KKR
“They (RR) were cruising well needing 60 odd runs in the last six overs. We discussed that at the second strategic timeout after the 14th over if we can get a wicket of Ajju Bhai (Ajinkya) and Sanju, we could make match of it. I got the wicket of Ajju Bhai and PC Bhai (Piyush) got Sanju soon and that got the game in our favour,” Yadav said.
Wondering at how his team imploded in the last few overs, RR captain Ajinkya Rahane said the middle order should have scored the winning runs. “Generally with nine wickets in hand after 10 overs you end up winning. The plan was to bat deep and I was playing positive. The credit goes to the KKR bowlers the way they bowled in the last three-four overs,” Rahane said.