'He told me that he wanted the last over' - Andre Russell delves into his pre-final over talk with Harshit Rana

Harshit Rana (Source -Twitter/X)

Match 3 of IPL 2024 didn't fail to disappoint one bit, as the Kolkata Knight Riders staged a final-over comeback against the Sunrisers Hyderabad to clinch a four-run victory after much drama. The match, through all its ebbs and flows, had everything in store - tinkering with the batting order, early collapses, dropped catches, stunners being pulled off, explosive batting, and tidy bowling. 

Andre Russell, who dazzled with an unbeaten knock of 64 runs off just 25 balls which transformed KKR's innings from 119/6 to 208/7, extolled youngster Harshit Rana's attitude. Russell said that there was a sense of initiative shown by the pacer, which complimented Rana's body language. Russell also stated that the sort of demeanour which was displayed by the Delhi-born player, is what every professional cricketer should possess. Russell also confessed that it was Rana who came up to him and told him that he wanted to be the one to bowl the final over and ultimately did deliver for the team even after getting hit for a maximum on the very first ball of it.

"I think his body language was on point in the last over; he wanted the ball. That is the body language we all need as professionals. If he was shying away from it, it could have gone their way. He told me that he wanted the last over. So he claimed it and he did deliver for us. With the first ball gone for six, still there was some doubt there, but you know he came back strong and he got the job done," Russell said after the match.

Also Read: Why Mustafizur Rahman didn't talk after the POTM award in CSK vs RCB? Reason Explained

Notably, the right-arm quick finished with career-best figures of 3/33 in his four overs. Before the match against SRH, he had only featured in 12 T20s. He exhibited immense confidence and composure with the ball in hand, scalping the wickets of Impact Player Mayank Agarwal, southpaw Shahbaz Ahmed, and the main threat for KKR, SRH's wicketkeeper-batter Heinrich Klaasen. 

KKR's skipper Shreyas Iyer said that he had enough faith in the young gun and believed that something good would bear fruit at the end of it all. Iyer also stated that the entire group and he himself was backing Rana to deliver the goods, and that he had conveyed the same to Rana by also telling him to back himself throughout the course of the final over of the match.

"I had that belief in him. I knew that something [good] would happen," Iyer said in his post-match interview. 

"Back yourself. No matter what happens in this situation, we're going to back you", was what Iyer told Rana going into the 20th over of the contest.

West Indian Sunil Narine comes to the party in the second innings

After being sent out as a pinch hitter to open the innings with Phil Salt and getting run out after a poor call and dismal running between the wickets, it was all to do for Sunil Narine with the ball in hand. And of course, he did just that. The bowling all-rounder Narine consistently on a good length and found turn in both directions, bowling at a pace that was just fine for a batting-friendly strip such as the one at Eden Gardens. Stupndously enough, he didn't concede a single boundary through the entirety of his four overs, and returned marvellous figures of 1/19.

Also Read: Watch: Harshit Rana's flying-kiss send off to Mayank Agarwal heats up KKR vs SRH clash in IPL 2024

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