Andre Russell has a method in his madness, explains KKR coach Jacques Kallis

The monstrous form of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Andre Russell has been the talk of the town in this Indian Premier League (IPL) and pundits are busy deciphering the unbelievable hitting which has been made to look easy by the man. The 30-year-old has belted 25 sixes this season so far and has an incredible strike-rate of 212-plus in just six games. Russell has won three Man of the Match awards and his hitting has eclipsed the rest of the KKR batting order.

Russell, who is at No.4 in the list of the run-getters this season, scored 49 not out off 19 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad; 48 off 17 against Kings XI Punjab; 62 off 28 against Delhi Capitals; 48 not out off 13 balls against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and 50 not out off 44 balls against Chennai Super Kings even on a not-so-friendly wicket for batting.

KKR’s head coach Jacques Kallis, also one of the franchise’s former players, is understandably elated by Russell’s form. Writing a column for Times of India (TOI) on Friday, the former South African all-rounder said: “The most remarkable aspect of Andre Russell’s tournament so far has been the consistency of his batting. It is hard enough to score runs on a regular basis but to do so in the style he bats is incredible.”

‘Bowlers need to work out where to bowl to Russell’

Kallis said though it looks that Russell’s approach to batting speaks of ‘high risk’ and impulse, it is not possible to hit with such consistency just by throwing the bat at anything. “He actually has a finely-tuned method and understands his game and technique superbly. Bowlers just need to work out where to bowl to him now because he can’t, actually, hit every ball for four or six — despite how it looks,” Kallis said.

Kolkata will be back to play a home game on Friday after over two weeks. They have won both their games at home so far against Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab and will be playing Delhi Capitals at the Eden Gardens next. Their previous match against the Capitals in Delhi was a thriller as the game went down to the Super Over with the home team winning by just three runs.

It was a brilliant yorker from Kagiso Rabada that had castled Russell to beat the KKR at the end. All eyes will be on the two players’ duel at the Eden Gardens on Friday.

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