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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Nitish Rana threw his weight behind all-rounder Andre Russell after the West Indian cricketer registered another failure with the bat. Pointing to his bowling performance against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), Rana asserted that Russell made a significant contribution to the match.
Russell was dismissed for three off six balls against SRH on Friday, April 14, at Eden Gardens after Kolkata were set to chase a highly challenging 229. The 34-year-old had registered scores of 35, 0, and one in KKR’s last three matches in IPL 2023.
Before another failure with the bat, the West Indian had impressed on the bowling front, claiming 3/22. He dismissed Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, and Abhishek Sharma. Sharing his thoughts on Russell, Rana said at the post-match conference:
“Russell is one of the biggest all-rounders in T20 cricket for us. If he can’t perform with the bat, I know he’ll perform with the ball, which he did today [Friday]. In four games, I gave him the ball first time today and he got two wickets early.
“It (failures) happens. It’s not like if Russell is there only he will score runs. If that happens then really good, but… We know his caliber and 100 percent he will deliver.”
The KKR captain also provided an update on Russell’s fitness status, confirming that he suffered from cramps during the match. Rana said:
“It’s not an injury, it’s a cramp. It’s because of dehydration.”
Russell walked off the field after bowling 2.1 overs. He later came into bat at No. 6.
“As a bowling unit, we could do better” - Nitish Rana
Reflecting on the team’s overall performance, Rana said that the bowling unit could do better, adding that he is happy with the batting unit. The 29-year-old stated:
“Chasing 230 is very difficult on any wicket. As a bowling unit, we could do better, but I won’t be too critical because these are the same bowlers who will also win me games going forward. There’s a lot to learn and deliver. As a group, we will talk about it. I am happy with my batting unit.”
Asked if the team believed in chasing down 229, the KKR captain replied in the affirmative but admitted that they needed someone to play an extraordinary knock, which did not happen. Rana said:
“We had faith. As a batting unit someone or the other player has played an extraordinary innings over the last 4 matches but this happens. To chase down 230 you have to bat really extraordinarily which we didn’t do today.”
Batting first after losing the toss, SRH put up 228/4 as Harry Brook slammed 100* off 55 balls. KKR responded with 205/7.
