Russell powers Knight Riders past Royals

KOLKATA, India (CMC) — Andre Russell smashed a boundary-studded half-century as the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) edged past Rajasthan Royals by one run in their Indian Premier League (IPL) contest that went down to the wire on Sunday.

The powerful Jamaican justified KKR’s decision to bat first at Eden Gardens, slamming 57 from just 25 balls — inclusive of six sixes and four fours — to propel his team to a competitive 206 for four from their 20 overs.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi scored 44 from 31 balls, Rahmanullah Gurbaz made 35 from 25, and Captain Ajinkya Rahane added 30, as KKR belted 70 runs from the last five overs.

Sunil Narine made 11 from nine deliveries at the top of the order.

Royals Captain Riyan Parag then scored a spectacular 95 off 45 balls but his effort fell just short as his side finished on 205 for eight off 20 overs.

With 22 runs needed off the final over Shubham Dubey hit Vaibhav Arora for two fours and a six.

The equation came down to three runs from the last ball but Dubey could only drill Arora’s yorker down to long-on, and Jofra Archer was run out by a sharp throw from Rinku Singh.

Moeen Ali, Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy all took two wickets for KKR.