"I thought we did a pretty good job: SRH skipper Pat Cummins

An explosive half-century by Andre Russell helped the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) edge past Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by four runs in their IPL 2024 match at Eden Gardens on Saturday. Heinrich Klaasen's 29-ball 63 went in vain, as he took SRH close to victory but could not take them beyond the finish line.

Russell played an unbeaten inning of 64 runs off just 25 balls with the help of seven massive sixes and three boundaries. He also picked two wickets in the match, where he bowled two overs and conceded 25 runs in his spell.

The right-arm pacer asserted that it was wonderful game of cricket and it's unfortunate that we end up on a losing side.

"Close game in the end, wonderful game of cricket. Unfortunately didn't go our way. I thought for the most part, really happy with how we bowled. Obviously Dre Russ at the end there does what Dre Russ does, he's pretty hard to contain. Overall, I thought we did a pretty good job. You do your planning, you try to execute your best but a pretty tough guy to bowl to, played some good shots, couple of balls maybe we could have bowled a little bit differently but toughest job in cricket is bowling at someone like that in the end," Cummins said in the post-match presentation.

The World Cup-winning player further applauded the wicketkeeper-batter from South Africa, Heinrich Klassen who almost pulled of the game for the SRH.

"It's one of those, goes one way or the other, amazing job by Klaas (Klaasen) and Shahbaz to get us back into the game and get us into that position. Who would have thought we'd get that close. Unfortunately a little bit too much. In a game where we didn't really pull it all together, we still almost competed against a very good side at their home venue, lots to be encouraged by, lot of good performers, a couple of points to work on also. Happy with how the toss went," the Australian cricketer added.

Coming to the match, put to bat first by SRH, KKR was reduced to 51/4 in 7.3 overs. However, a half-century by Phil Salt (54 in 40 balls, with three fours and three sixes) and an explosive knock by Ramandeep Singh (35 in 17 balls, with a four and four sixes) kept the team's run rate just fine, but still they were struggling at 119/6 in 13.5 overs.

An explosive 67-run partnership followed between Andre Rusell (64* in 25 balls, with three fours and seven sixes) and Rinku Singh (23 in 15 balls, with three fours), powering KKR to 208/7 in 20 overs.

T Natrajan (3/32) and Mayank Markande (2/32) were the top bowlers for SRH.

In the chase of 209 runs, SRH started off well with a 60-run opening stand between Mayank Agarwal (32 in 21 balls with four boundaries and a six) and Abhishek Sharma (32 in 19 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes). The team lost their way and was soon 145/5 in 16.5 overs.

However, Heinrich Klaasen (63 in 29 balls with eight sixes) and Shahbaz Ahmed (16 in five balls, with a four and two sixes) unreleased a barrage of sixes towards the end, torching pacer Mitchell Starc with a prize tag of over Rs 24 crore for 26 runs in his over, ending his first figures for KKR at 0/53 in four overs. 13 runs were needed in final over, but Harshit Rana (3/33) held his nerves, taking two wickets and defending the remaining runs.

Andre Russell secured the 'Player of the Match' for his half-century and figures of 2/25. (ANI)