Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders return to Eden Gardens after four years. Favorite team like Royal Challengers in front. In such a situation, one can give a guarantee – Andre Russell’s explosive batting. If we look at the old records, no one would think of rejecting such a claim, but the specialty of cricket is that the player who is on the throne one day, can also come on the floor the next day. Something similar happened with Andre Russell.
On Thursday, April 6, all eyes were on Andre Russell in the match between Kolkata and Bangalore at the Eden Gardens. The fans of Kolkata, who lost in the first match, wanted to see their favorite team performing strongly on their home ground. For this, speaking of Andre Russell’s bat was very important, but what happened at Eden was like an anti-climax.
Russell’s ‘duck’ in the century
Batting first, Kolkata lost three wickets in quick succession in the beginning itself. For that Rahmanullah Gurbaj and Rinku Singh were having a good partnership. Then leg-spinner Karn Sharma came in the 12th over and Gurbaj was dismissed on his second ball. In such a situation, Andre Russell entered.
The same Andre Russell who scored 395 runs in 13 innings against RCB at a strike rate of 207. In such a situation, everyone’s eyes were on Russell. Then this was also his 100th IPL match. But on the very first ball of Karn Sharma, he was caught in the boundary. Means Golden Duck.
ICYMI – What a fine over that from Karn Sharma.
Picks up two big wickets of Gurbaz and Andre Russell.
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 6, 2023
RCB’s strong start
Thousands of KKR fans present at Eden were left stunned as soon as Russell’s wicket fell, while Bangalore players present on the ground were seen in celebration and enthusiasm. Karn Sharma, however, could not complete his hat-trick. By the way, he was not the only one who took two consecutive wickets. Before him, left-arm pacer David Willey also gave a strong start to Bangalore by taking 2 wickets in a row. In the fourth over of the innings, Willey bowled Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh on consecutive balls.
