It was a low scoring encounter and pretty much one sided once Andre Russell stepped onto the field.
Batting first Punjab Kings scored only 138 runs. Unfortunately, they were bundled out even before playing their 20 overs quota. They started well with the bat. Captain Mayank Agrawal didn’t find his rhythm and lost his wicket to Umesh Yadav who is in a sublime touch this year. The new number three Rajapakshe hammered young Shivam Mavi for 24 runs but with a twist, threw his wicket in the same over. Punjab scored 43 in the first 4 overs. They kept pressing to score 200 and lost 3rd wicket in the last over of the powerplay at 62 runs.
Credit goes to Umesh Yadav, he has been too hot to handle this year. Neither Livingston nor Shahrukh Khan performed sensibly. Almost every top order and lower order batsmen gave away his wicket while playing an attacking shot. Nobody found his feet on the crease and wickets kept tumbling.
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Chasing 138, Kolkata Knight Riders faced trouble. Especially in the 7th over where Rahul Chahar sent Iyer and Rana back to the pavilion. It looked like Punjab Kings were back in the game. However, the next batsman Andre Russell had some other plans. After playing a few dot deliveries and taking a couple of singles, he went after Harpreet Brar smashing two sixes in his over.
In front of his muscle power, Punjab Kings felt helpless. A building match suddenly became lifeless when he brutally attacked Odean Smith. He scored 30 runs in the 12th over and surely that hit the last nail in the head. The tantalised match became a hollow one with winner decide and further overs were only formality.
He scored 70 off 31 balls hitting monstrous sky touching sixes. Evidently, it was a clean hitting. For Kolkata Knight Riders, it is a cheering news that Andre Russell is back in form and we will see him promoted up to the order in forthcoming matches.