Andre Russell got injured while saving a boundary but wanted to get the job done: Brendon McCullum

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Brendon McCullum has opened up about Andre Russell’s shoulder distress during their recently concluded match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). McCullum said that Russell was not completely fit for the 13th over, but he still opted to go ahead.

Russell had been a vital part of KKR since the team first roped him in the year 2014. Since then, he has missed only the 2017 season and has been with the side for eight long years. The Caribbean all-rounder handles the bowling as well as the batting department very well. He has been a finisher for KKR whenever the team needed it.

But he has also suffered several injuries in the past few years, and as a result, hasn’t been able to contribute to the team as expected. And something similar occurred during their match against RCB on March 30 (Wednesday). Before taking over the bowling attack, he had dived near the boundary line in the previous over and eventually, hurt his shoulder.

“Dre ran around the boundary, dived and stopped that boundary for us which was fantastic. Unfortunately, he just picked up a little bit of a bump, which meant his shoulders were little bit sore. But Dre being Dre, he still wanted to try and get the job done. He wasn’t quite able to but, look, those are the things which happen in low-scoring games,” he said in the post-match press conference.

Andre Russell had a bad day with the ball

The extent of his uneasiness became so obvious that KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer had to hand over the bowling to all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for the 19th over. He conceded 10 runs off the over, which helped RCB cut down their chase quickly.

“In terms of Venkatesh Iyer, he’s certainly a bowling option for us. When you play that extra batter, you try to share your four overs between the likes of Andre Russell, Venkatesh Iyer, and even Nitish Rana. But yeah, as the tournament gets deeper, Venkatesh Iyer has got a huge role to play for us with the ball and it certainly helps us to try and balance our side,” McCullum added.

Though Russell came back to finish the game by bowling the 20th over, Dinesh Karthik cracked a six and a four off the first two deliveries to finish the game for them as RCB won the match by three wickets. KKR will next face the Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Friday in the 8th match of IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium.