Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Eoin Morgan has provided an update on Andre Russell’s fitness after his team has made it to the second qualifier by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Eliminator of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) on Monday (October 11).
Russell was injured after completing an athletic save on the midwicket boundary during Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) two-wicket loss to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in an IPL 14 clash in Abu Dhabi on September 26 and since then, the all-rounder didn’t future in any game in the tournament.
As Russell has missed his fifth straight game for KKR in the ongoing IPL 2021, Shakib Al Hasan has replaced the West Indian in the playing XI and delivered consistent performances, and played his part in the team’s success in the tournament.
After KKR’s 4-wicket win over RCB in Sharjah, Morgan has revealed that Russell has a grade 2 hamstring tear, though the all-rounder is working hard with the medical team to be fully fit for Qualifier 2 against Delhi Capitals (DC) to be held in Sharjah on Wednesday (October 13).
Morgan said in the post-match press conference, “Obviously the decision that we have been taking is on a daily basis. Andre has a grade 2 hamstring tear and it has only been a couple of weeks since that injury. He has worked incredibly hard along with our medical team, with intensive rehabilitation to try and get himself back in the park.”
The skipper added, “We only have 48 hours before the next game, so we will have to take that decision (on whether he is fit to play) based on how he presents himself tomorrow and the next day.”
Meanwhile, Morgan said KKR is trying to follow the head coach Brendon McCullum’s mantra of playing a positive and aggressive brand of cricket and that’s paying off for the side in the UAE.
He further explained, “I think (in) the first phase of the tournament, we were trying to implement Baz's (head coach Brendon McCullum) mantra of trying to play positive, aggressive cricket, a brand of cricket that our fans really enjoy watching and also players really enjoy playing.
In that first phase, it didn't quite happen, throughout different games, we showed glimpses of it, but throughout this whole second phase, people have turned out for different motivations and drive to try and play that aggressive brand of cricket. Our bowlers have shown us the way (on) how to be aggressive with the ball and in trying to take wickets and identifying when to hold back and be a little more defensive and that's led the way with our batting as well.”
The KKR skipper also lauded RCB skipper Virat Kohli, who played his last game as captain against KKR in the IPL. He signed off by saying, “Virat is obviously a classy and experienced captain, who has done it for an extremely long time both in IPL and international cricket.”
(With PTI Inputs)
