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Kolkata Knight Riders' all-rounder Andre Russell, whose spectacular performance helped his team in defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad, said he is hopeful about qualifying for the Playoffs.
Russell scored unbeaten 49 runs with the bat and took three wickets with the ball to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a 54-run win against Sunrisers Hyderabad here at MCA Stadium in Pune on Saturday. "When I went out to bat, when they were bowling into the wicket, it was a bit difficult. Our bowling attack pulled them back tonight. The mindset is very clear, I practice to go and do that from ball one. The first ball in the nets, I hit for sixes. I get my body ready for any situation, sometimes it might be tough. You have to tough it out at times and stay till the back end, happy tonight," said Russell in a post-match presentation. "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," he added. Russell (49), and Sam Billings (34) shone with the bat and posted a target of 178 runs against KKR. Later, Russell scalped three wickets while Tim Southee returned with two wickets and restricted SRH at 123/8, and registered a 54-run win. KKR now are currently at sixth position in the points table with 12 points. SRH are at the eighth position with ten points. (ANI)
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