Andre Russell's spectacular all-round performance powered defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders to a convincing four-wicket victory against Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, in Pune, on Saturday.
The West Indian smashed a blistering 66 from 36 balls to rally Kolkata, who were reeling at 60 for five, and carry them to an easy victory with 13 deliveries to spare.
It was a day to remember for Russell as he first took two wickets for 39 runs from couple of good catches in the outfield.
With the bat, he belted nine boundaries and two sixes adding 95 runs in 9.2 overs for the sixth wicket with Yusuf Pathan (28 no) to take his team home which looked unlikely after the first eight overs when half of the team was back in the dug-out.
Russell scored his 50 off 28 balls with eight boundaries and a six and was unlucky to be dismissed a run away from victory when he was bowled by Mitchell Johnson, in the 18th over.
Punjab's young pacer Sandeep Sharma was brilliant with the new ball as he claimed four for 25 as polished off the top-order with some incisive swing bowling.
He got the ball to shape in consistently getting Robin Uthappa (13), Manish Pandey (12) and Ryan ten Doeschate (0) with incoming deliveries. Ten Doeschate was a bit unlucky as replay showed that he got an inside edge.
KKR captain Gautam Gambhir (11), who has been pretty consistent so far got one which Sandeep slanted across and Wriddhiman Saha took an easy catch.
Saha however took a brilliant diving catch to cut short Suryakumar Yadav (23 off 10 balls)'s little cameo when he tried to steer a Thisara Perera delivery to the thirdman region.
Russell staged Kolkata's stunning comeback with a counter-attacking innings, and was particuarly harsh on their two leading bowlers -- Patel and Johnson, both of whom went for more than 10 runs per over.
Earlier, a disciplined performance by the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers enabled them to restrict Kings XI Punjab to 155 for 9.
For the home team, skipper George Bailey played an useful hand with a 45-ball-60 while Glenn Maxwell (33) also showed some promise during his brief stay.
Pacers Umesh Yadav (3/33), Morne Morkel (2/27) and Andre Russell (2/39) were impressive as they never let the Punjab batsmen dominate the bowling for a lengthy period of time and kept taking wickets at regular intervals.
Spinner Sunil Narine (1/17) was the most economical bowler for the defending champions as he managed to claim his first wicket in the tournament.
Russell was also a livewire in the field as he took couple of well-judged catches.
The highlight of the Punjab innings was a 63-run stand for the fourth wicket between Bailey and Maxwell as the duo kept the scoreboard moving at a good rate despite the early wickets.
Maxwell got a lease of life when Yusuf Pathan dropped an easy catch at deep midwicket off Russell's bowling. It was the simplest of chances as Maxwell was on 13. But the Aussie couldn't capitalise on the miss although he showed glimpses of returning back to form during his 26-ball 33 that had two fours and two sixes.
He added 63 with skipper Bailey before he was brilliantly caught by Russell, who had to dive forward to complete the catch at sweeper cover.
After being put into bat, Murali Vijay (0) failed to open his account as he was done in by extra bounce with Russell taking a smart catch running from midwicket off Umesh Yadav.
Wriddhiman Saha (15) did hit a four and a six but didn't look comfortable against the extra bounce. After successfully connecting two pull shots, he failed while attempting another pull shot off Morne Morkel and was caught by Yusuf Pathan at first slip.
Virender Sehwag (11) hit a lovely square drive off Russell bisecting the two fielders at point and gully. But Russell got the revenge as he fired one towards his pads and the flick was snapped by Piyush Chawla at short square leg before Maxwell-Bailey duo resurrected the innings.
