Andre Russell turns 32: KKR star hammers 13-ball 48* vs RCB in IPL 2019; watch video

West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell is the only player along with Shane Watson to have won the IPL Player of the Series award twice. Since being bought by KKR in 2014, Andre Russell has continued to dominate the IPL and has impressed for the side from two-time champions. As the big West Indian turned 32 on Wednesday, let us take a look back at the game from last year where he snatched an iconic victory from RCB's hands.

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Andre Russell birthday: Russell rescues KKR from jaws of defeat, denies RCB victory in Bengaluru

In their usual fashion, the RCB team had got off to a slow start in their IPL 2019 campaign. Virat Kohli's team had lost all four of their matches and for the fifth match, they were hosting a strong KKR side at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. After KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and chose to bowl first, RCB tried to make the most of their batting prowess.

Producing another AB-Virat special, captain Kohli scored 84 while AB de Villiers scored 63. A last over cameo from Marcus Stoinis made it seem like RCB would finally get the victory that had been eluding them for so long. After all, they were asking KKR to chase down 206 runs to win.

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KKR openers Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine came out to bat and only Lynn could impress with 43. However, KKR did not fall back too much and always kept the scoreboard ticking just enough. Veteran Robin Uthappa made 33, young Nitish Rana made 37, captain Karthik contributed with 19, but all of them were sent back to the dugout. The final equation stood at KKR needing 53 from 18 balls with Andre Russell and Shubman Gill on strike. After an impressive performance with the bat, Marcus Stoinis came in to bowl the crucial over and got smacked for 23 runs. 18 of these only came from sixes by Russell.

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With 12 balls to go, KKR needed 30 and the experienced Tim Southee came on to bowl. 1,6,6,6,4,6 was what the over read after Shubman Gill rotated the strike on the first ball itself as Andre Russell virtually finished the match in a span of five balls. All it took now was a cheeky single in the first ball of the 20th over to hand KKR an easy victory. Russell ended with a score of 48* from 13 balls. Here are the highlights.

(Video courtesy: BCCI)

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