Andre Russell had a dream bowling spell when Mumbai Indians were batting in today's clash. Although Russell was brought on in the 18th over and bowled only 2 overs. He took 5 wickets for 15 runs in his two overs. Russell, who came on to bowl for the first time in the 18th over, struck with his second delivery, dismissing his Windies teammate Keiron Pollard for a low total and winning the Caribbean match. He then chose Marco Jansen's head, rejecting the South African for a golden duck. In his next and final overs of the innings, the Windies all-rounder took consecutive wickets. Russell took the wickets of Krunal Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and Rahul Chahar on the last ball of the innings to finish with a five-wicket haul. Andre Russell has earned the Purple Cap by taking the most number of wickets in the IPL 2021, with six. With 5 wickets in 2 overs and just 15 runs conceded, he set a new IPL record for bowling figures and became just the second bowler in history to pick up 5 wickets against Mumbai.
Nitish Rana, the opener for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), continued his excellent form. He followed up his 80 off 56 balls in the first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad with a fantastic 57 off 47 against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday. With his second half-century in a row, he climbed to the top of the Orange Cap leaderboard with 137 runs, overtaking Sanju Samson's 119. Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill put on a 72-run opening stand before the latter was dismissed for 33 in the ninth over. After Andre Russel's first five-wicket haul in the IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders are chasing 153, while Mumbai Indians have limited Rohit Sharma's side to 152. Before Mumbai struck back with quick wickets, Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill set the tone for the chase. In domestic cricket, Rana has been in excellent form. The Delhi batsman scored 398 runs in seven games for the Vijay Hazare Trophy, including a century and two fifties. Even more impressive is the fact that he was doubtful for the first match and the entire tournament after testing positive for COVID-19 before joining the KKR camp. Nitish Rana recovered from COVID-19 just days before the IPL 2021 season started.
