Kolkata Knight Riders will be taking on Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday evening at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. While all the KKR supporters are eager to see the franchise register their first victory today, a swashbuckling performance from the team’s heavy-hitting all-rounder Andre Russell is also what the fanbase is looking forward to. In the meantime, the skipper Dinesh Karthik hails the muscular Jamaican, claiming he looks similar to a Mixed Martial Artist.
Nicknamed ‘Muscle Russell’, Andre Russell has undoubtedly lived up to his name in the past IPL seasons. The West Indies international has been a part of the KKR contingent since 2014. However, the tournament saw Russell’s ruthless batting abilities in the last two seasons.
With an astounding strike rate of 185.17 in his IPL career, Russell has scored 1411 runs in 65 matches and is revered for blistering knocks towards the end of innings. In IPL 2019 alone, he achieved a strike rate over 200 and hit a whopping 52 sixes in the tournament.
KKR captain Dinesh Karthik reveals the secret to bowling Andre Russell
Russell has shown absolute prowess against both pacers and spinners, and thanks to his massive built, he can hit almost any kind of ball out of the park just with his sheer strength. He also often shares his muscle training drills on social media.
Veteran Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin who is playing for Delhi Capitals this season was eager to clear his doubts of how to bowl against Russell, and asked the KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik himself on his YouTube show called ‘Hello Dubaiahh’.
“How do you bowl to him? His miss-hit is a six with 8m clearance, decent hit 15m and a whack is out of the ground. As a captain how can an opposition bowler bowl to him?” Ashwin asked Karthik.
To which, DK gave the most bizarre yet true to life replies ever.
“First pray to God. Give him an offering. Pray that he’s in a bad mood, and then go for IPL. Then the day, the wicket, the conditions (matter),” answered the Kolkata captain.
“Just watching him walk in is scary. He comes in like a wrestler. What a build-up he gives while doing that. He’s a brilliant character. With his muscles and all, he looks like an MMA fighter,” Karthik added.
Even though Russell did not open up his batting prowess in KKR’s last game against Mumbai Indians, today’s game versus SRH might just observe the ‘Muscle Russell’ in his true form.
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