Kolkata Knight Riders vs Punjab Kings, 8th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Many years down the road, when you look at this scorecard, and you look at a 138-run chase done with 33 balls to spare, don't be fooled into believing this game to be one of those one-sided yawnfests. This was no stop-start game. This was just breakneck stuff. Wickets kept falling. Shots kept being played. Runs kept getting scored. But then one guy decided to clear that front leg and swing. And smash cricket balls into the sea. Okay, we're heading out then for the night, with our heads spinning in the madness that were up against, and I, Vineet Anantharaman, sign off on behalf of Abhinand Raghavendran, Akshay Maanay, Hari Sadanandan, and our scorer, Siva. Until tomorrow, and hopefully someone else putting us through two more of these, ta ta!!

STAT: Most Player of the Match awards vs a team in IPL
6 Umesh vs PBKS
5 Yusuf Pathan vs Deccan
5 Rohit vs KKR
5 Gayle vs KKR

Highest SR vs a team in IPL (300+ runs)
207.9 Russell vs RCB
204.3 Russell vs PBKS *
199.5 Gayle vs PWI
181.4 Y Pathan vs Deccan
178.1 Sehwag vs Deccan

Umesh Yadav | MoM: I need to work hard. Getting older and when you know you play just one format, I look to bowl as much as possible. When someone improves at practice, they do well during the match as well. I didn't think Mayank would charge at me on his first ball. He has played me a lot in the nets. I knew he would play off the back foot, and that's where I looked to bowl on a fuller length. Whatever is happening now, has been because of what I have practised with my coaches. If you bowl at 140kph, you need to be accurate, you need to bowl at the stumps.

Shreyas Iyer | Winning captain: We were stunned by Punjab's approach. We didn't expect them to come so hard at us in the initial overs after losing an early wicket. But that's what I looked to do as well. We got early wickets in the powerplay. My plan was to keep my best bowlers for their hard-hitters. And that's why I kept Varun and Sunil for late. They made my job easy. They come out with their own strategies. They know what their plans are for the batsmen. They know what they are doing. To be honest, it was great to see Russell hitting. It was Russell Muscle. Umesh told me that he was getting older, but I told him that he was getting fitter. I see him wherever I go, at the gym, and he is working very hard. I know how to get the work done from him, and he has been a wonderful colleague.

Andre Russell: Feeling awesome, this is the reason why we play the game. In that position, I know what I can do. It was good to have someone at the crease like Sam who can rotate and help us stick through the tough time. Once I started sweating, I just said that I am gonna go. I backed my ability and that's what I did tonight. I am happy to bring the team over the line. I am happy to do whatever the team requires. I am looking to bowl in the death. If the captain wants me to bowl one in the powerplay, I am more than happy to do that but we have a good amount of bowlers. We have a few guys that can actually chip in one or two as well. I know in some games I won't be bowling four but if at least I bowl two overs, I can feel a part of the game and feel like an all-rounder. These things do happen, some games it's gonna be easy and I may not bowl a ball. I am happy to take the batting as well, hit some sixes and do whatever I can do to contribute for the team. We were a couple of wickets down, behind me was Sunil and then the other bowlers. I knew we were the two guys who'll definitely look to get a partnership. I told Sam, 'listen, let's just bat a few overs and see what happens.' But we had to attack earlier because the left-arm orthodox wasn't spinning the ball and nothing was happening. So we decided to take charge from one end and look to get singles from the other end. Chahar was bowling extremely well, it was gripping as well. We didn't want to take much chance against him. We knew it'd get easier. I am going to say one (when asked how many he got off the middle).

Mayank Agarwal | Punjab captain: We didn't bat well enough. We showed some real fight with the ball initially and then Dre Russ came in and got going. Credit to him for taking the game away from us like that. I think it was a 170ish wicket. We started off well but could not capitalize, there were a few soft dismissals. But it is fine as it is the start of the tournament. They (bowlers) pulled it back nicely for us with 4 for 50 we were in the game, but Russell took the game away. There were a lot of positives to take away.

Harsha Bhogle: Russel Muscle. Brutal. Crazy power hitting.

22:40 Local Time, 17:10 GMT, 22:40 IST: Of all the master-sloggers, and of all the torture-inducers, Andre Russell takes the podium. And his tutorial gets another video lesson. He smiles, takes off his helmet, waves his bat around, with the crowd just not having enough. He walked in at 51/4, with Rahul Chahar having the batsmen in some sort of a tangle. But, well, he didn't bother rebuilding. He swung, middled them all, and absolutely thwarted this chase. Okay, before we get sucked in and lose all perspective, let's not forget the first innings here, for that was where the real difference was. 137 at the Wankhede with the dew, is not even close to being enough. And it was Umesh Yadav who broke Punjab's back -- 2-0-15-1 in his first spell in the powerplay, and 1-0-8-1 in the middle, and then 1-1-0-2 in his return at the death. At every point the batsmen thought of a recovery, Yadav destroyed those hopes. Right, here come the presentations ..

Livingstone to Russell, SIX .. crouches, swipes, smokes, and Punjab can breathe. The punishment is officially over, courtesy this death blow, slogging high and deep over cow corner. 31 balls, 70 runs, and to think Punjab were on top when the beast walked out

Livingstone to Russell, SIX, one-legged tonk this. Livingstone, after all the carnage, still has the heart to flight it up, and Russell goes one-kneed to carve this flat over long-off

Livingstone to Billings, 1 run, quick, flat, leg-break, whipped to deep mid-wicket

Liam Livingstone, right-arm leg break, comes into the attack

Arshdeep Singh to Russell, SIX, now, now. He's just putting on a show here. A proper outrageous show. The line's wide of him outside off, but Russell finds a way to get under it and slice it over deep cover

Arshdeep Singh to Russell, no run, he's beaten, phew. Back of a length, angling across, and Russell's early into his whack

Arshdeep Singh to Russell, 2 runs, a neat slower back of a length delivery. And a front-leg-cleared swipe, although mistimed, through mid-wicket

Arshdeep Singh to Russell, no ball, FOUR, a full-blooded smash down the ground, a 26-ball fifty for himself, and a free-hit to follow it up with. If only we were all Andre Russells. The rest of the more nomal people, like Arshdeep and the umpire, very luckily get outside the trajectory of this hit and save their lives ..

Arshdeep Singh to Billings, 1 run, length, on off, and a wafty front-footed punch to long-on

Arshdeep Singh to Billings, no run, back of a length, angling in, off-cutter. Knocked back down the pitch defensively

Arshdeep Singh to Billings, no run, sharp bouncer, angling across. And Billings' quick to drop his wrists in swaying out

Arshdeep Singh [2.0-0-18-0] is back into the attack