Andre Russell has been spitting fire with his willow in the 12th season of the IPL. In four matches, he has scored 207 runs at an absolutely astounding strike-rate of 268.83. Harsha Bhogle rightfully stated that Russell is the scariest player in world cricket today.
His strength was on display against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Chinnaswamy stadium, on Friday as he smacked 48 runs in just 13 balls to chase down 206 runs with five balls to spare.
Russell has surely been one of the most exciting players of the IPL so far, with 22 sixes already against his name. However, this doesn’t seem to have gone well with India’s neighbours, who have their own Pakistan Super League. As reported by the Sports Cafe, Pakistan’s journalist Shahid Hashmi took a dig at Russell recently, via Twitter, where he pointed out how Russell could hit only nine sixes in the PSL last month for his team, Multan Sultans.
Bowling standards in PSL are higher… check this comparison of bowling in IPL and PSL … Andre Russell has hit 22 sixes in four IPL matches this year.. in 18 PSL matches across three seasons his tally is just 9! The other factor may be ….. he hit sixes as per his FEE
— Shahid Hashmi (@hashmi_shahid) April 5, 2019
However, the reply that Hashmi got here came from English fast bowler Stuart Broad, who defended Russell. He came up with multiple reasons why the hard-hitter was clicking in India after failing in Pakistan. It soon changed into being yet another India vs Pakistan debate on the social media platform.
Or the pitches are better? Or the grounds are smaller? Or he’s batting in better situations? Or the ball isn’t reversing when he comes in?
— Stuart Broad (@StuartBroad8) April 6, 2019
Despite all his heroics, Russell still remains behind the SRH openers, David Warner and Jonny Bairstow who have scored 279 and 262 runs respectively, after 5 matches.
