KOLKATA: Andre Russell played a pivotal role in helping Kolkata Knight Riders climb back to the top of the Indian Premier League standings with a narrow seen run defeat of Kings XI Punjab at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday night.

Returning to their fortress for the first time since April 13, the two-time champions first posted 164-3 riding on the back of a century opening partnership between Robin Uthappa and captain Gautam Gambhir, and then restricted the visitors to 157-9.

Gambhir and Uthappa, who have been the pillar of many a Kolkata wins in the past, were in the thick of things yet again. After being given first use of the pitch, the right-hand and left-hand pair saw them off to a solid start before they were separated in the 14th over.

Gambhir was the first to get to his half-century before he was run out for 54 (45 balls, six fours and one six) after adding 101. Uthappa (70 from 49 balls, six fours and two sixes) was also dismissed in the same manner when he was involved in a mix-up with Yusuf Pathan.

Russell (16) made it a hat-trick of run-outs on the last ball of the innings.

Kings XI Punjab, needing 8.25 runs per over, were off to a dreadful start as they lost skipper Murali Vijay, Marcus Stoinis and Manan Vohra.

Glenn Maxwell then pulled out the improvisations and the power-hits from his repertoire to put the pressure back on the fielding side, while smashing his way to a 29-ball 50. The Australian paid the price for being a little too adventurous and was out for 68 (42 balls, six fours and four sixes).

Man-of-the-match Russell was sensational with the ball. At one stage he had staggering figures of 2.3-0-3-3, before finishing with figures of 4-20.

Summarised scores:

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 164-3 in 20 overs (R.V. Uthappa 70, G. Gambhir 54, Yusuf Pathan 19 not out); KINGS XI PUNJAB 157-9 in 20 overs (G.J. Maxwell 68, W.P. Saha 24, A.R. Patel 21; A.D. Russell 4-20, P.P. Chawla 2-27).

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2016