Andre Russell is scared of driving cars and when the bus swerves: Dinesh Karthik

It goes without saying that Andre Russell plays his cricket with intent and passion. He is someone, who can tear any bowling apart from ball-one and plays his shots without nurturing any inhibition. Though cricket isn’t a one-man sport, there have been instances when Dre-Russ has threatened to win his teams matches, single-handedly courtesy his ferocity and power-hitting.

In the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL), he smashed 52 sixes, scoring over 500 runs at a strike-rate over 200, representing the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). On the back of his performances, the Jamaican cricketer also got the award for the Most Valuable Player (MVP). Meanwhile, Ravi Ashwin, who’s a part of the Delhi Capitals (DC) was curious to know about the tactics to bowl to Dre-Russ.

He asked the same to KKR captain Dinesh Karthik on his YouTube show ‘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.

Andre Russell looks like an MMA fighter

Replying to Ashwin, Karthik drew Ashwin’s parallels with a wrestler. However, he also said that Russell is scared of a few things, including driving cars and when the bus swerves.

“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). 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 stated.

“But he’s scared of everything. He’s scared of driving cars, or even when the bus swerves, he gets scared. He said, he’ll never be on a rollercoaster. Never judge a book by its cover. The only thing he’s not scared of is the ball,” he added.

In the ongoing edition of the IPL, Andre Russell hasn’t had much to do. He got out cheaply to Jasprit Bumrah against the Mumbai Indians (MI) and picked up Hardik Pandya’s wicket. In the second match, he got rid of Manish Pandey in the game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).