Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) eked out a thrilling win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for only their second success of the IPL 2019 season after Andre Russell and Nitish Rana nearly pulled off the impossible at the Eden Gardens♔ on Friday.
Ne༺eding 113 runs off the last six overs, Russell (65 off 25) and Rana (85 not out off 46) almost got their team over the line but Moeen Ali managed to defend 24 in the final over.
The tense climax came after Virat Kohli slammed 100 off 58 balls for his fifth century in the IPL and first this season. RCB hammered 91 runs off the last five overs to reach 213 for four – their highest total this IPL season.
Ali’s 66 off 28 while batting alongside Kohli also proved beneficial for the Red Army as they finally managed to defend.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
Saw another super💙 cricket match at the best venue in the country .. what a ground what a cricketing pitch.. decision of steel to bowl moen ali..
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99)
Almost anything is possible. Andre Russell can do anything with bat in hand. Cleanest hit🃏ting one can wish to see. Fantastic 100 from Virat as well and a top class match.
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag)
Hitting of the highest class from Andre Russell.🍰 Astonishing
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif)
I feel it’s only fair for KKR to do something in return for ,like winning a few before the season👍 ends.
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk)
Russell is hitting the ball as well as anyone I 𝄹know has.
– on
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders)
Looks like on﷽ly way to stop Andre Russell hitting 6s this season is bowl underarm!
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah)
What an insaꦜne game of cricket 😳 Dre Russ wow bro insane!!!🐎!
— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage)
Andre Russell is the . Period.
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman)
Bhai koi i🦩tni clean hitting kaise kr skta hai h🐭r match me 🙏🙏🙏 u beauty 😊👏👏👏⭐️🙏
— Rahul Sharma (@ImRahulSharma3)
Dre Russ😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi)
what are you doing to bowlers 🙈
Daaaaaayum!! 😱
Absolute Freak!!!!— Tabraiz Shamsi (@shamsi90)
At a point of time it did feel like and will get KKR over the line but this batting order is over dependent. The top 4 co🎃uld have ♋had a better strike rate!
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh)
Knight Riders would've won this game with an over to spare if Russell/Rana came in to bat before Robin Uthappa. They really need to rethink their batting order. But what an exhibition of hitting. We're lucky to be in an era where Andre Russell is playing.
— Sreshth Shah (@sreshthx)
In the 12 years of IPL, Andre Russel has given us the best exhibition of hitting, no target is out of Russell's reach
— Pankaj Chhaparwal (@cpankaj)
Why oh why is Russell batting so low?
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93)
Unbelievable♚ batting by just too good! Will this be another miracle! Wow he’s just a demon with the bat!
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth)
Good to see scoring a century and getting back in to form. I🐈t will do a world of good for his ♑confidence. Great knock today.
— Vinod Kambli (@vinodkambli349)
