Kolkata Knight Riders on
Saturday secured a 54-run win over SunRisers Hyderabad. The win kept their hope
of qualifying in the IPL 2022 playoffs alive. KKR are now sixth on the points
table. KKR made a couple of changes to their playing XI with Sam Billings being
included in the team for the first time since April 23, when he played for KKR
against Gujarat Titans.
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Billings did not disappoint
KKR fans. He played a 34 runs innings as KKR posted a modest 177 for 6 in 2o
overs. He also picked two catches while keeping the wickets for the side.
Following his all-round
performance, Billings was spotted imitating renowned commentator Danny
Morrison, as he interviewed Andre Russell. Russell played an unbeaten 49 off
just 28 deliveries and also registered figures of 3/22 in four overs.
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Earlier, Russell and Sam
Billings (34) shared a 63-run partnership to take KKR across the 150-mark after
they were 94 for five in the 12th over. In the last five overs, KKR collected
58 runs.
Ajinkya Rahane (28) and
Nitish Rana (26) made a promising start but could not capitalise on that start.
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For SRH, Umran Malik picked
up three wickets, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar got one for 27 runs, Marco Jansen and
T Natarajan also picked up one wicket each.
“Before the last ball
of the 19th over was bowled, I said, “Sunil, try and get a boundary, but
let me start the over with the spinner.” Offspinner to a right-hander,
it’s like a kid in the candy shop. I got full tosses and I put it away. Hard
work paid off today. Good to contribute in both aspects tonight. I’m just going
to keep it going, hopefully, we can qualify,” Russell had said about his
strong finish with the bat in the post-match presentation.