This match marks the return of the kings to their den after a period of 1095 days. Russell”s knock made Chennai crowd silent who turned out in huge numbers to welcome their team back
Opting to bowl first, Chennai bowled brilliantly to contain KKR. When scorecard ticked 89/5, Russell activated his beast mode and smashed all the CSK bowlers to nook and corner of the chepauk.
His knock of 88 in 36 deliveries included one four and 11 humongous sixes. He also hit the longest six of IPL 2018 that clocked 105mts.
Chennai bowlers registered expensive figures barring Shane Watson who ended with figures 4-0-39-2.
Dwayne Bravo couldn”t exhibit his death bowling skills as he was left clueless in the 19th over where Russell took him for a hat-trick of sixes.
It is to be noted that Russell was retained by the Kolkata franchise earlier in January. A nail-biting chase awaits at Chepauk as Chennai needs 203 to win and get to the top of the table.
This is how Twitter reacted to his brutal knock
Highest batting career strikes-rates in #IPL
min 20 inns
179.10 – Andre Russell
165.83 – Chris Morris
164.39 – Glenn Maxwell
160.86 – Sunil Narine
160.30 – Krunal Pandya
155.44 – Virender Sehwag#IPL2018#CSKvKKR— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) April 10, 2018
Andre Russell , remember the name.
11 sixes in his 88 not out and has single handedly given KKR the momentum and advantage. Some of the cleanest striking you will ever see. #CSKvKKR— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) April 10, 2018
See, those big muscles on Andre Russell are not for show.#IPl
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 10, 2018
70 of his Russell's runs came in 12 balls. 18 in the other 24. #CSKvKKR
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) April 10, 2018
Andre Russell at his destructive best💪💪💪. That is some of the cleanest, easiest hitting I have seen for a while, 88(36). #vivoipl2018.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi) April 10, 2018
Now it remains to be seen if Andre Russell can put the ball in the gaps and pick up singles. 😜#AndrePower
— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) April 10, 2018
Now that is why #KKR were so keen to have Andre Russell back. #DreRus
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 10, 2018
After the astonishing mauling by Russell, Dhoni must be wonderingif he shouldn't have opted to bat first. If CSK still win this match, they'll send a shiver down the spines of players from other teams. But right now, advantage KKR I'd say #IPL2018
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 10, 2018
Russell only learnt the 6 ka table in math class 😉
— Gaurav Kapur (@gauravkapur) April 10, 2018
2nd match this season and the Retained players have already proved why they are so special for #KKR #IPL2018
— Abhishek ︎ (@ImAbhishek7_) April 10, 2018
ki banda hai eh @Russell12A ??? #power
— Gurkeerat Mann (@gurkeeratmann22) April 10, 2018
.@Russell12A Are you serious?? #IPL2018
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) April 10, 2018
All hail @Russell12A! WHAT AN INNINGS! 🙌🏼 #CSKvsKKR #VIVOIPLonStar
— Sanjana Ganesan (@SanjanaGanesan) April 10, 2018
The first thing I tell my boys during nets is that if the batsman is going after you push him back with a few short deliveries. I so wish I can call all the bowlers from this match to my academy . #CSKvKKR These guys are defying conventional wisdom. #IPL
— Mikkhail Vaswani (@MikkhailVaswani) April 10, 2018
Andre Russell !!!!!!!!!!!! #IPL
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/absycric/status/983747212562722816
#CSKvKKR some serious power hitting by Andre Russell, CSK needs a good start … first 6 overs going to matter the most
— zaheer khan (@ImZaheer) April 10, 2018
https://twitter.com/Next_Abraham/status/983738384941109248
