Andre Russell is one of the best all-rounders and demolition experts in T20 cricket at the current time. His exploits with the bat are legendary in almost every T20 league he has played in, but things have been different when it comes to the Indian Premier League (IPL).
He has been on a roll in Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ever since joining them and in IPL 2019, he was on totally another level with the bat, especially when it came to winning matches from out of nowhere and the best example of this came against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 5, 2019.
RCB had batted first and thanks to Virat Kohli’s 84 and AB de Villiers’ 63, posted a formidable 205/3 in 20 overs. In reply, Chris Lynn (43), Uthappa (33), and Rana (37) kept KKR in the hunt, but when Dinesh Karthik’s wicket fell in the 17th over with the score 153/5, all hope seemed to be lost.
IPL: Andre Russell reveals what he would say to Shah Rukh Khan before his last game for KKR
With 53 runs needed off the last 18 balls, Andre Russell walked out to bat with Shubman Gill for the company and what came next was the total annihilation of RCB bowlers. When everything was dusted and done, KKR won the match with 5 balls to spare, and Russell unbeaten on 48 off 13 balls with 7 sixes and 1 four to his name. Gill played his part with 3*.
In a video, Andre Russell revealed that it was Virat Kohli who triggered that intent to win the match from that position for KKR. He recalls that after a wicket fell, Kohli had turned towards the KKR balcony with CEO Venky Mysore and all the wives and girlfriends of players and went “Come On” in his style.
Russell saw that and thought to himself that it was not going to end this way and he will be winning it for KKR and told Gill to just give him the strike as he was going to go after any bowler. In the end, his carnage-filled innings were enough for an amazing victory.
Check out Russell describing the incident here:
