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Four wickets in an over are rare. It is even rarer when a bowler gets handed the ball by the captain to bowl the last over of a T20 game and he takes not one or two but four wickets to stem the flow of runs. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mainstay Andre Russell broke a record that was created in the inaugural season of Indian Premier League (IPL) with four wickets against Gujarat Titans (GT) at Dr DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on April 23.
Earlier, former KKR pacer Laxmi Ratan Shukla took three wickets from a spell of five deliveries against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2008. 11 years later, Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal took three wickets against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as well.
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer usually introduces Russell in slog overs and gives him a couple of overs. Against Titans, he handed him the ball in the last over of the innings.
He started off the over with the wicket of Abhinav Manohar who hit the slower delivery towards deep mid-wicket. Next ball, Lockie Ferguson times the pull shot well but Rinku again takes an excellent catch. This time, it was just inside the boundary to dismiss the Kiwi pacer. On the third ball, Alzarri Joseph negotiated the hat-trick delivery well and took a single to get Rahul Tewatia on strike.
Tewatia picked the slower short ball well and hit it in the gap for a boundary. Next ball, Russell bowled another slower one but this time wide of Tewatia. The southpaw tried to cut it but got caught at deep cover by Rinku. Last ball, no.10 batter Yash Dayal walked in to bat. He played it back to Russell. The Caribbean all-rounder took the catch off his bowling to create IPL history.
The 33-year-old conceded just five runs and got four wickets in the last over the innings to restrict Titans for 156/9 after Hardik Pandya became the first captain in the season to win the toss and opt to bat first.
"Similar to last year playing against Chennai where I bowled well. I was thinking about the execution and had 160 in my mind. I am looking to take the long boundary on but I hope these guys don't give me the chance. The wicket is gripping a bit and the cutter's coming handy. We should use the experience of the first innings. Once we get a good six overs and we should be good. I owe Rinku a dinner, he doesn't drink," Russell told the broadcasters in the mid-innings break.
Titans failed to finish big and scored just 29 runs from the last five overs. This is the second time in IPL history, a side has scored less than run-a-ball in the slog overs after losing two or fewer wickets in first 15 overs. Only other team to do it was Rajasthan Royals (RR) against Mumbai Indians (MI) in 2009 edition where they managed just 22 runs.
