Shamik Chakrabarty at Eden Gardens
That front foot defence was so textbook, it could have challenged Rahul Dravid’s deadpan neutering of the bowlers. The latter was sitting in the Rajasthan Royals dug-out and must have acknowledged the shot’s purity. On a sluggish pitch, Kolkata Knight Riders were going slow — 111/3 in the 13th over after Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for 30 off 24 balls.
When acceleration becomes the need of the hour, Andre Russell has always been KKR’s go-to man. But this season has been a departure from the normal. Russell was struggling to buy his runs, a reason for his team’s middle-order batting vulnerability. Before this match, he had 72 runs from seven innings.
Maheesh Theekshana bowled the next over and almost toyed with Russell. A leg-break beat the outside edge. A carrom ball missed it by a whisker. After 15 overs, KKR were 121/3, struggling to up the ante. Another dot ball saw Russell’s strike rate plummet even further, two off nine balls. He was searching for a release shot, which came via a four to the deep square-leg boundary off medium-pacer Akash Madhwal. It opened the floodgates. Russell cleared his front leg and sent the next Madhwal delivery over the cow corner for a six. A four through covers followed.
Rajasthan Royals turned to Jofra Archer, pinning hopes on his extra pace. Russell hammered a low full toss over the long-on boundary. A four came on its heels. Finally, the ‘big man’ was looking unstoppable. Theekshana was taken to the cleaners in the next over, with three consecutive sixes. Another maximum off Archer took Russell to a 22-ball 50. He ended up on 57 not out off 25 balls, as KKR posted 206/4 — about 20 runs above par.
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🚨EXCLUSIVE
KKR Management Never Let Andre Russell Enter the Auction — and He’s Just Proven Why Again!
KKR CEO Venky Mysore on Retaining Russell.@KKRiders @VenkyMysore @BoriaMajumdar pic.twitter.com/UhxI46UNV3
— RevSportz Global (@RevSportzGlobal) May 4, 2025
“Age is just a number, still feeling like I’m 27,” Russell told the host broadcaster during the innings break. “I never worry about a few dot balls here and there and I didn’t want to take a risk early on against Theekshana. They were bowling good areas so I didn’t want to play a risky shot early because I know what I can do in the back end. (Wanindu) Hasaranga was bowling in good areas and the slower balls were gripping. The more overs I have, the more I can do.”
Eyebrows were raised after the defending IPL champions retained Russell for Rs 12 crore ahead of the mega auction. He is a bona fide KKR legend all right, but at 37 years of age, it felt like Father Time was catching up with him, especially during the early part of the ongoing season. The team management, too, was making the mistake of sending him far too low down the order. All the while, Russell was working his socks off, spending extra hours at the nets. He trusted the process and finally got the result.
KKR are in a territory where every game is now a virtual knockout for them. And the two true blue knights have stood up to be counted. If the win against Delhi Capitals was down to Sunil Narine’s brilliance, Russell came to the party against Royals at Eden Gardens on Sunday. A turnout of 35,000 sang his name.
Also Read: KKR vs RR, IPL 2025: Russell ‘Storm’ hits Eden Gardens