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The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) contingent celebrated Andre Russell's birthday on Monday night (April 29) after a comprehensive victory over Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2024. The Shreyas Iyer-led side beat DC by seven wickets at Eden Gardens to notch up their sixth win from nine games this season.
DC batted first after winning the toss and posted 153/9 in 20 overs. On a disappointing night, Kuldeep Yadav played a crucial rearguard knock of 35* (26) to help the Delhi Capitals reach a respectable total. However, it was not enough for their bowling attack in the second innings as KKR cruised to the winning shores in 16.3 overs without much trouble.
Opener Phil Salt (68) laid down the platform for KKR's commanding triumph with a blistering half-century. Shreyas Iyer (33*) and Venkatesh Iyer (26*) took over after his dismissal and completed the job for the hosts.
Birthday boy Andre Russell did not have much to do in the match as he bowled only one over in the first innings and then did not get a chance to bat in the chase.
The Kolkata franchise shared a video on their official Instagram handle to give a glimpse of birthday celebrations of Russell in the team's camp after a resounding victory against Delhi Capitals. KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan also attended and posed for pictures with Andre Russell.
You can watch the video below:
"After the powerplay the pitch became tacky"- KKR captain Shreyas Iyer after win against DC in IPL 2024
At the post-match presentation, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer opened up that they thought 200 was a par score initially. However, the surface became tacky after the powerplay in the first innings, which helped their spinners.
Reflecting on the victory, Shreyas said:
"We thought 200 will be a par score but after the powerplay the pitch became tacky and the pitch was helping the spinners. It helped us a lot while chasing. Salt is always engrossed in the game and it's a pure bliss to watch him."
Lauding Player of the Match award winner Varun Chakravarthy, Shreyas continued:
"He (Chakravarthy) wasn't at his best in the last few games but have come back strongly today. The way he turned up today was simply brilliant. Absolutely we have been thinking right from match one to qualIfy as early as possible as anything can happen at the business end and see we can deliver at crunch situations."
KKR will next face Mumbai Indians in IPL 2024 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday (May 3).
