PBKS vs KKR, 8th Match at Mumbai, IPL, Apr 01 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

That's all from us for tonight, as KKR become the first team this season to win two games. It's a double-header tomorrow, starting with Mumbai vs Rajasthan before Gujarat play Delhi, so make sure you tune into our live ball-by-ball coverage. Until then, thanks for tuning in this evening. This is Matt Roller signing off on behalf of Chandan Duorah and Karthik Krishnaswamy.

Umesh Yadav beats Russell to the player-of-the-match award. That's his sixth POTM award against the Punjab franchise, the most by a player against a single opponent in IPL history. My language skills are sadly lacking, so my colleague Afzal Jiwani has translated for me... "[Work ethic?] In the nets, I just try to work on my skills. You can get better only if you practise. I didn't expect Mayank to charge down the track on the very first ball. When you're bowling at 140 clicks, your focus is to bowl the perfect line and length."

Shreyas Iyer: "We were stunned - we didn't expect them to come so hard, especially losing a wicket in the first over. But when I saw them timing it so well, I thought I could as well. [Front-loading bowlers?] We got early wickets after the Powerplay so my mindset was if I get wickets as much as possible... my plan was to get the best bowlers when they had hard-hitters coming in. [Spinners?] They make my job very easy on the field. They come up with their own strategies and in team meetings, they already know their plans. They know what they're doing. [Dre?] It was such a relief to see him hit so clearly. Simply outstanding hitting - it was Russell muscle, for serious. [Umesh?] I was just having a chat with him. He said he's getting older but I told him he's getting fitter and stronger. He's been putting in the hard yards at practice, I see him in the gym every time I go. He's hungry and wants the team to win. He's been a great colleague to work with."

Andre Russell: "Feeling awesome, man. 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. Once I started sweating, I told him that I'm gonna go. I back my ability. I'm happy to do whatever the team requires. I'm looking to bowl in the death. We have a good amount of bowlers, a few guys that can slip in one or two as well. If I bowl two, at least I can feel like an allrounder. But some games, I may not bowl a ball so I'm happy to take the batting as well and hit some sixes - do whatever I can do to contribute for the team. We were a couple wickets down and behind me was Sunil and then the other bowlers. I told Sam 'listen, let's bat a few overs and see what happens'. But I realised the left-arm orthodox wasn't spinning the ball. Chahar was bowling extremely well and the ball was gripping so we didn't want to take much chance against him but I knew we'd wait on the seamers and it would get easier. [How many out of the middle?] I'm going to say one..."

Mayank Agarwal: "We didn't bat well enough. That's where it started. We showed some real fight with the ball initially but then Dre Russ came in and got going. Credit to him for that. It was a 170-ish wicket. I thought we started off well but couldn't capitalise, a few soft dismissals. But a game like this at the start of the tournament is fine. I thought the bowlers pulled the game back really well, to get 4 wickets for 50-odd runs. But Russell took the game away from us. A lot of positives for us to take away."

Eric: "At 51/4, any other team would've taken it deep… this side embodies their coach like no other. Never a dull moment with KKR"

Abhishek: "Russell orange cap, Umesh purple. I feel the man of the match should be shared between these two"

Afeef: "The way Billings gave Russell most of the strike, I bet he also wanted to watch the Russell show just as much as we did"

Abhi: "There's very few players who evoke this kind of fear that Russell does. No total is too big for this guy!"

10.40pm: Russell acknowledges the fans in the crowd who are chanting his name, and puts an arm around Odean Smith. KKR looked in real trouble after Rahul Chahar bowled the seventh over, a double-wicket maiden, but after a cautious start, Russell flicked the switch. His partnership with Billings was worth 90 in 7.3 overs, and he scored 70 of them by himself.

"You're too strong, man," Rajapaksa mutters to Russell over the stump mic. Livingstone into the attack to bowl his all-sorts.

Goes around the wicket now.

Arshdeep returns.

Brilliant spell from Chahar, but likely to be in vain.

In other sporting news, the draw for this year's FIFA World Cup has just gone live. Who will favourites Brazil draw? Will it be Messi or Ronaldo in this edition's 'group of death'? Find out all that and more, right here!

Benjie: "As they always say, never meet your idols!!!"

Adarsh: "Billings: small mercies? Hold my beer."

Bhawesh: "RussellMuscle IS BACK!!!! Watch out everyone"

KK: "Smith's mind voice: So this is how it feels eh?"

30 off the over. Shocker from Odean, and KKR are nearly there.

23 off the over! And suddenly, the required rate is down to 4.53... hang on a minute... Odean has over-stepped, by an absolute mile as well. Small mercies: he's bowling the free hit to Billings instead of Russell.