Any organisation would want the match-winning talent of Andre Russell ingrained in its lineup. Andre Russell has been KKR’s go-to player in critical circumstances. Over most of his IPL career, he has played for KKR and helped them win games. The West Indies all-rounder has appeared in 102 games overall in the lucrative league, scoring 2074 runs at a perfect strike rate of 176.96 and recording 10 fifties. With a five-wicket haul under his belt, he has also claimed 92 wickets thus far.
Since making his tournament debut more than ten years ago, in 2012, Russell has had a wildly unpredictable path. He was absolutely unbeatable at his best, particularly in the 2019 season, when he scored 510 runs and won the award for the most valuable player of the season.
While still evident, Russell’s capacity to win matches has managed to diminish throughout the years. He primarily plays as a batter because of his history of frequent injuries. The team placed its trust in the all-rounder by signing him for 2022 and beyond, but he has not had the finest IPL 2023 start, which has somewhat harmed KKR.
In light of this, let’s examine three IPL seasons where KKR suffered due to Russell’s bad performance:
3) IPL 2016:
Expectations for the ace all-rounder were high following the West Indies’ excellent 2016 T20 World Cup campaign. Russell, on the other hand, just had a dismal tournament to show for it; he scored 188 runs in 12 games, averaging 26 and a 165 strike rate.
Despite making it into the playoffs, KKR had to settle for the fourth place because of a subpar run rate. With the same number of points as KKR, the second-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) secured the important second spot. If Andre Russell had been in form, KKR might have finished in the top two. Unfortunately, in the later phases of the competition, KKR ultimately lost his services because of a leg ailment.
2) IPL 2020:
Andre Russell’s poorest season in which he has appeared in at least 10 games is the 2020 campaign. Due to having a lower net run rate than other teams in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), KKR lost out on a playoff position.
The West Indies player only scored 117 runs at a strike rate of 144 in 10 games. In every game of that edition, pacers dismissed him, making it a tournament he and KKR will never forget.
To make matters worse, he only managed to take six wickets throughout the competition, with an economy rate of 9.72.
1) IPL 2021:
The league and KKR each had a second half in the 2021 season. The team struggled mightily in India before gaining momentum in the UAE during the return leg. They had a fantastic run and managed to advance to both the semifinals and the championship game.
Russell, however, only managed to score 183 runs in 10 games and was unable to make much of an impact during the tournament’s final stretch owing to an injury he got while playing defence against CSK in Abu Dhabi. Russell did not have much to show for his efforts outside of a fifty against CSK at the Wankhede Stadium at the beginning of the competition.