IPL 2019: Alex Hales not impressed with Andre Russell not giving the strike to Harry Gurney

In a low-scoring match, every run that is added to the total is gold-dust for the batting team. However, batsmen often prefer not to take the single when batting with a tail ender. A similar incident was on display in the game between CSK and KKR when Andre Russell wasn’t interested in giving the strike to Harry Gurney at the other end.

The English cricketer walked in at the number eleven position after his team was brought down to 79/9. He was involved in a 29-run partnership with Andre Russell but only scored one run. He got to face 5 off the last 21 balls of which 3 came in the 17th over itself. The Jamaican refused to take the single on several instances and hardly seemed to have any confidence in his partner. However, that did not impress English opener Alex Hales one bit.

Didn’t you watch Harry Gurney’s drive on the up, Russell?

Hales took it to the micro-blogging site Twitter to express his disappointment about the all-rounder not taking a single. In his tweet, he demanded that Russell should have got Harry Gurney on strike. Hales tried to explain the bowler’s capability with the bat by citing the example of a classic shot played by him off the bowling of Glen Chapple.

The opener questioned Russell by asking him if he didn’t watch the drive on the up that Gurney played. “Russell clearly hasn’t seen footage of @gurneyhf driving Glen Chapple on the up! #getgurneyonstrike,” wrote Alex Hales in his tweet.

Russell clearly hasn’t seen footage of @gurneyhf driving Glen Chapple on the up! #getgurneyonstrike

— Alex Hales (@AlexHales1) April 9, 2019

Russell played an uncharacteristically slow knock in this match. However, he played as per the situation of the game and remained unbeaten on 50 off 44 balls as KKR finished on 108/9 in 20 overs. The team could have added a few more runs to their tally had the batsman given more strike to Gurney.

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