IPL 2019: Jacques Kallis lauds Andre Russell as one of the most powerful hitters he has witnessed

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Jacques Kallis has termed Andre Russell as one of the most powerful hitters he has ever seen after the Windies batsman went berserk at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. The home team KKR was playing their series-opening fixture against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, in the IPL 2019 on March 24, when the barely expected innings happened.

Russell walked to the crease with his team in tatters and was in more trouble when Nitish Rana got out after scoring 68 off 47 balls. However, KKR was four wickets down with 68 off 27 balls still required. The powerful Windies all-rounder first hit Siddharth Kaul for 19 runs in the 18th over and smashed 21 more off death-over specialist Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the penultimate over to help KKR snatch an unanticipated win, with two balls to spare.

Andre Russell, widely known as Dre Russ, turned up with a blitzkrieg of a knock with an unbeaten 19-ball 49 to chase down a 182-run target. The knock was good enough to beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), who were short of their captain Kane Williamson, in a tight Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Kallis answers the Gayle-Russell comparison

After this knock, Kallis was quoted saying by the Outlook: “In terms of finishing, he is one of the most powerful hitters that I have seen. It was a good knock. He timed it well. And there were issues, the light wasn’t incredible. But it was some of the best ball striking I have seen in a long time.”

“He is certainly up there. It’s a very different role when you are batting down the order at No. 6, 7 or 8 as compared to facing the new ball. So, it’s difficult to compare new ball batters with old ball batsmen,” the former South African all-rounder said when he was asked to compare Russell with Chris Gayle. 

KKR have their next fixture scheduled against the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), on Wednesday, March 27. Punjab have the Chris Gayle force and it will be great to witness a showdown between Andre Russell and Chris Gayle.

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