Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor David Hussey said Andre Russell would have certainly bowled the 19th over for KKR if he hadn't picked an injury against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the 38th game of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) on Sunday (September 26).
In the 17th over of CSK’s successful chase of 171 in Abu Dhabi, Russell completed an athletic save at the midwicket boundary while fielding, but ended up doing some damage to himself, as he appeared to pick up a hamstring niggle and had to immediately leave the field on Sunday.
Well, Russell didn’t return to complete his over and Prasidh Krishna bowled the vital 19th over when CSK needed 26 runs in the last 12 balls. However Ravindra Jadeja hit him for 2 sixes and 2 fours as he gave away 22 runs.
Sunil Narine bowled the last over trying to defend 4 runs and he almost pulled it off by picking two wickets- Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran- but in the end, Deepak Chahar hit the winning runs.
Hussey said during a virtual post-match press conference: “Of course, when Andre went out of the park, he had one over to the bowl. Was he going to bowl it, nobody really knows. He bowled particularly well upfront, so he probably was gonna bowl the 19th over.”
He also opened up on the extent of Russell's injury. Hussey said, “It is still too early to tell. Russell said that he felt something pop in his hamstring so we have got the best medical staff in the business, they will look after him. Hopefully, nothing too serious with him because he is a key player for us. Hopefully, he comes back and lights up the tournament.”
Meanwhile, the KKR mentor felt for Prasidh Krishna, who had an off day against CSK as the bowler was particularly hit by Jadeja, conceding 41 runs for 1 wicket in his four overs, though, the mentor is confident that he will come back strongly in the ongoing IPL 14 in the UAE.
Read Also: IPL 2021: Not much you can do when Jadeja plays like that- KKR skipper Eoin Morgan
Hussey further noted, “Prasidh Krishna has been an amazing death-over bowler for us. Yeah, he is definitely in our plans, unfortunately, he got beaten by a better player today in Jadeja. Knowing Prasidh Krishna, he is going to come back and dominate.”
He signed off by saying on Morgan’s captaincy, “Eoin Morgan is the captain of our team, he leads and tactically, he is very clever. He is going to be in there for the team. He is batting at number four for us, once he gets going, look out for competition because he is a fine player. He has been there for such a long time. At the time, we have other batters scoring runs for us.”
Noteworthy, KKR will next lock horns against Delhi Capitals on September 28 in the ongoing IPL 2021.
(With ANI Inputs)
