IPL 2019: Andre Russell was probably angry with me, says Quinton de Kock

Throughout the entire season of the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL), it was pretty much palpable that Andre Russell was one of the gun warriors for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Even as the other players of his team kept showing inconsistency, the 31-year-old Jamaican kept churning out superlative slows, so much so that he ended up both as KKR’s leading run-scorer and wicket-taker.

The hulk-like all-rounder scored 510 runs in 14 matches with 52 sixes. With the leather, he notched 11 wickets. However, last night didn’t go well for Dre Russell as he couldn’t step up in KKR’s must-win encounter against the Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. He got out for a golden duck as he couldn’t handle a sharp delivery from Lasith Malinga.

An angry Andre Russell

Even while bowling, he conceded 34 runs in 2.1 overs without a success. In the meantime, MI batsman Quinton de Kock, who scored 30 off 23 with one boundary and three sixes, reckons that Russell was a tad angry with him. In Russell’s first over, the left-handed de Kock smacked him for 16 runs off three consecutive deliveries that included a couple of sixes and a boundary.

It seemed like Andre didn’t take De Kock’s thrashing in the right spirit as in the next over, Russell hurled a wide throw at the non-striker’s end when Quinton came down the track to take a single off Sandeep Warrier’s bowling. The matter didn’t stop there and Russell went on to nudge shoulders with the wicketkeeper-batsman and then gave him a cold stare after running into him.

“It was just a bit of fun out there. Think he was a bit angry as I took him on,” De Kock was quoted as saying to IPLT20.com after MI’s thumping nine-wicket victory over the Men in Gold and Purple.

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