The star all-rounder in Kolkata Knight Riders‘ Andre Russell was very grateful for the teammates as they pulled off an amazing birthday surprise with victory over Delhi Capitals by 14 runs on April 29. This win meant adding hopes to KKR for the playoffs and helped Russell achieve victory with his effort.
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After the match, he hinted at the IPL of scheduling a game on his birthday and then shared that he had asked the boys to win for him. And it was done thanks to a mixture of big hitting, smart decisions, and steady bowling.
“We had the team meeting before the match, where the guys were really wanting to win on my birthday. Nothing else could have mattered,” Russell said. He further said, “He said he was thankful to the IPL because it is special to have a match on your birthday.”
KKR got off to a great start, scoring 79 runs in the powerplay thanks to efforts by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sunil Narine, and Rahane. Venkatesh Iyer again struggled with another low score, but Rinku Singh (36 off 25) and Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44 off 32) stepped in to carry the team to a solid 205.
Narine had to take big decisions during the match as he took over the captaincy after Rahane got injured and had to be out of the field. His bowling was equally significant as he dismissed Axar Patel and Tristan Stubbs in the 14th over to slow down the DC momentum and later dismissed Faf du Plessis (62) to keep making it tough for the opponents.
As the game grew intense, Narine relied on Varun Chakravarthy for the crucial 17th over even without accounting for him having gotten any wickets until then. The gamble paid off as Chakravarthy conceded only eight runs and removed Ashutosh Sharma and Mitchell Starc in quick succession.
With 24 runs to defend in the final over, Russell took charge and handled the pressure well, sealing the win and making his birthday that bit more special.
