The Indian Premier League 2024 is only three games old, but we have witnessed one of the best matches already, with Kolkata Knight Riders coming out on top against Sunrisers Hyderabad in an absolute thriller. Andre Russell took KKR fans down memory lane with an explosive knock, and Phil Salt made an instant impact on his Kolkata Knight Riders debut as KKR racked up 208/7 after being put to bat first. This was after they were reduced to 51/4 at one stage, with Sunrisers Hyderabad dictating proceedings. KKR lost their top order cheaply, with Sunil Narine (2), Venkatesh Iyer (7), Shreyas Iyer (0) and Nitish Rana (9) not doing much. The Narine experiment failed at the top of the order as he could not get going. And it was Russell and Salt who performed the rescue act. Harshit Rana Quick Facts: Here’s All You Need To Know About Young KKR Fast Bowler in IPL 2024.

Salt smashed 54 runs off 40 balls with three fours and as many sixes, while Russell struck 64 runs off just 25 deliveries (three fours and seven sixes) to propel KKR to the first 200+ score of this season. Rinku Singh chipped in with 23 runs off 15 balls, and one cannot count out Ramandeep Singh's cameo of 35 runs off 17 deliveries in the middle. For Sunrisers, T Natarajan was the best bowler, picking up three wickets.

In response, Sunrisers ticked along well, with Mayank Agarwal and Abhishek Sharma putting on 60 for the opening wicket. Young Harshit Rana (3/33) drew first blood, dismissing Agarwal and sending him off with a kiss. Russell also chipped in with two wickets while conceding 25 runs in two overs. However, it was a debut to forget for Mitchell Starc, KKR's Rs 24.75 crore buy, who leaked 53 runs in his four overs. But all's well that ends well for KKR.  IPL 2024 Points Table Updated With Net Run Rate.

KKR vs SRH Stat Highlights:

#Andre Russell became the fastest player to hit 200 sixes in the IPL

#Russell now has a 50+ score and a wicket in the same IPL nine times, the most by a player

#He also hit his maiden IPL fifty vs Sunrisers Hyderabad

#It was also his 11th IPL fifty

#Heinrich Klaasen has hit the most number of sixes in an IPL match without hitting a four (8)

#Klaasen scored his third IPL fifty.

#Phil Salt scored his third IPL fifty

KKR will next take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in their next match on March 29 and hope to make it two wins in two matches. Sunrisers Hyderabad meanwhile, can take a lot of positives from this match, regroup and bounce back when they face Mumbai Indians on March 27.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 24, 2024 01:32 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).