Andre Russell smashed an explosive 49 to spoil David Warner's scintillating IPL comeback as Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off a dramatic six-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad, on Sunday.

Needing 53 runs from last three overs, the powerful Jamaican changed the course of the match with his big-hitting against Siddharth Kaul, creaming off 19 runs from that over. He retained the strike by taking a smart single and continued his assault on Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who too bled 19 runs in the penultimate over as KKR sealed the 182-run chase with two balls to spare.

Russell hammered four sixes and an equal number of boundaries in run sequence that read 6-6-1-4-1-4-6-4-0-6-1. Youngster Shubman Gill (18 not out) completed the formalities with two sixes off Shakib-Al-Hasan.

Twitter was full of praise for the West Indies batsman after the innings:

Dre Russ !!! & @RealShubmanGill ... #IPL2019 The young lad is going to be some player ...

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 24, 2019

Dre Russ !!! & @RealShubmanGill... #IPL2019 The young lad is going to be some player ...

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 24, 2019

Such a rush of blood, watching Andre Russell! This is the start of IPL-12 in real sense!!#SRHvKKR #IPL

— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) March 24, 2019

Incredible from Andre Russell. The scariest finisher in T20 cricket. And Vijay Shankar of India, who bowls, goes back to being the Vijay Shankar of the IPL who doesn't.

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) March 24, 2019

Showing his muscles @Russell12A What a knock @IPL #SRHvKKR well done @RealShubmanGill

— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) March 24, 2019