Andre Russell played a crucial role in keeping Kolkata Knight Riders alive in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) season on Sunday with his unbeaten 57-run knock off just 25 balls. On the back of his blitzkrieg, KKR posted 206 runs on the board after opting to bat against Rajasthan Royals and won the thrilling clash by just one run.
The Caribbean all-rounder won the player of the match award for his innings. At the age of 37, Russell is looking fit as ever and after being retained for Rs 12 crore ahead of IPL 2025, he is aiming to play for six more years for KKR. Russell's teammate Varun Chakavarathy revealed that the former is keen to play well into his 40s for the franchise, just like the way MS Dhoni is doing for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
"As far as I have spoken to him and interacted with him, he still wants to play another 2-3 cycles of IPL which is easily six more years. He looks fine and fit. It doesn't matter how old you are. If you are able to contribute to the team, that's enough. In franchise cricket, they are not going to question you," Chakaravarthy said in the post-match press conference on Sunday (May 4).
On Sunday, Andre Russell came out to bat at number five, arguably for the first time this season. He had scored just two runs off nine deliveries at one stage before unleashing his wrath on the RR bowlers. Notably, he played out the spinners of the opposition safely but according to Chakaravarthy, Russell's game against spin is really good and he doesn't sway from hitting against them.
"I feel it was his choice. He made that choice not to attack the spinners. But that’s not the truth, as in he can’t hit spin. He can hammer spin. We have seen it before and even in the nets when we practice, he can hammer that. But he took a different approach today -- that was very smart on him and congratulations to him," Varun added further.