IPL 2019: Gautam Gambhir says he also disagreed with Dhoni at times, referring to Russell’s bad decisions comment

Andre Russell has been phenomenal with the bat this season for the Kolkata Knight Riders having scored over 450 runs at a strike rate of over 200 and 50 sixes to boot for. His 80* off 40 balls against Mumbai Indians powered KKR to 232 against MI at Eden Gardens, and then picked two wickets, helping the team snap their six-match losing streak.

The match saw Russell come out to bat at no.3, something that he had yearned and openly said before the MI match. Russell had said that KKR was a good team making bad decisions, with regards to him batting lower down the order. These comments didn’t go down well with former KKR captain Gautam Gambhir. Gambhir had taken Russell to task in his column previously, but in his new writing piece, the two-time IPL winning captain admitted he didn’t interpret Russell’s statement correctly.

I had misinterpreted Russell’s comments, says Gambhir

“I was disappointed with Andre Russell’s comments where he termed the KKR team atmosphere as “unhealthy”. I did express my regret. But looks like, I jumped the gun. One of my journalist friends sent me a link to his press conference with a message that I had misinterpreted Russell’s comments. He was right. Russell was only mentioning about disappointing team atmosphere after a string of losses,” Gambhir was quoted as saying in his column for TOI.

He did chastise Russell for taking the disappointment of team losing six matches on a trot public in a press conference. Gambhir also agreed that while no team wants to face such defeats, KKR did make poor decisions and that can be attributed as the reason for the fate they faced.

“I can understand his emotions for KKR but I’d be disappointed if I was Dinesh Karthik. No one wants to lose. No one wants to take poor decisions and KKR did take some ordinary calls this year. That doesn’t mean that these things should be discussed in a press conference!!!,” the former Indian opener said.

The 37-year-old also revealed that he also had problems and disagreements with his Indian teammates as well as captain MS Dhoni on the field. In his view, the best practice would be for someone from the KKR team management to discuss it through with Russell.

“I have had plenty of disagreements with my teammates. On more than one occasion I didn’t agree with captain MS Dhoni, but these things remained within the team. I think someone from the coaching staff or KKR management should sit down with Russell and explain to him the relevance of a cohesive dressing room,” he further revealed.

Kolkata Knight Riders need two wins in two matches now to make it into the playoffs.

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