Virat Kohli’s face told the story at the end of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on Friday. You can’t fault Kohli for being robbed as RCB were well on their way to their first victory of the season until they ‘Russelled’ out of the match.

Yes, this is soon becoming a term in the IPL as several teams find out that they can never be in a winning position when Kolkata Knight Riders are chasing. Coming to bat with the required rate closing in on 15 runs per over, Andre Russell launched another one of his trademark assaults to break RCB hearts. It was calculated menace at its best as Russell hit the ball out of the park at will.

Sunrisers Hyderabad had faced a similar onslaught at the Eden Gardens early in the season and Russell has not looked back since. He has in fact taken his six hitting ability to another level. A look at his numbers this season compared to his IPL career shows how effective he has been this season.

Russell in fact leads the list of players who have hit the maximum number of sixes in T20 cricket in 2019. The West Indian has 53 sixes to his name, and is well ahead of the pack. If he continues to be in this kind of form, KKR can be sure of reaching the business end of the tournament.

First Published: Apr 07, 2019 19:22 IST