CPL 2022: Best of Andre Russell in the CPL
With his supreme all-round skills, best highlighted by his game-changing abilities with destructive batting, Andre Russell is one the most sought-after cricketer in T20 cricket. One of the only seven players to have played over 400 T20 games till date, Russell has aggregated 6,909 runs at 26.57, while maintaining a strike-rate of 169.50, and has bagged 371 wickets with nine four-wicket hauls and a best of 5/15.
His tally of 554 sixes in the format is only exceeded by Chris Gayle (1,056) and Kieron Pollard (778), wherein he has 26 fifties and two hundreds.
Much like in various other Global T20 leagues, Russell has been a premier match-winner at the Caribbean Premier League, having played 76 matches for Jamaica Tallawahs, the two-time champions. His strike-rate of 173.37 is the highest for any batter (minimum 125 balls faced) in the CPL.
Russell was a key-member in Tallawahs inaugural title-winning campaign under Chris Gayle, wherein he smashed 203 at 50.75 while maintaining an outstanding strike-rate of 189.71. He did it with both bat and ball in the franchise’s second title win in 2016, aggregating 286 runs at a strike-rate of 172.28, while also bagging 11 wickets.
Of the 18 players to have played over 70 matches in the competition’s history, Russell is the only one to have done so for a single franchise.
Rario, the cricket NFT giant, has partnered with CPL to make available the best moments from the league for cricket fans. Some of Andre Russell's outstanding moments can be picked as NFTs from Rario.
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The CPL Players card pack drop happens on the 15th of July on the Rario platform and owning this is the first step towards a soon-to-be-launched Cricket Strategy Game. A veteran in the shortest format of the game, Andre Russell is among the 44 players in the Player card pack drop on the 15th.
Here are some of Andre Russell's best performances in the CPL:
121* and 3/38 vs Trinbago Knight Riders - CPL 2018
An outstanding show with both bat and ball, Russell’s brilliance against Trinbago Knight Riders in Trinidad in 2018, is perhaps a benchmark for power-hitting all-rounders in the format. Russell dismissed Brendon McCullum, Darren Bravo and Denesh Ramdin in the final over of TKR’s first innings effort of 223/6 to complete an enviable hat-trick.
The skipper walked in at 5/41 in the seventh over of the chase, and struck a breathtaking 49-ball 121 including six fours and 13 sixes for his side to seal the game with four wickets and three balls to spare. Joe Denly is the only other player to have bagged a hattrick and score a hundred in the same T20 match (Kent vs Surrey, 2018 T20 Blast).
100 and 2/27 vs Trinbago Knight Riders, Qualifier 2, 2016
Russell registered the then fastest CPL hundred - off mere 42 balls - in the side’s must-win Qualifier clash against TKR, two years before he’d better that record against the same opponents. The swashbuckler walked in at 67/4 in the 10th over, and struck three fours and 11 sixes during his blitz, lifting the side to a strong 195/7. TRK were set a DLS revised 130-run target from 12 overs, and Russell dismissed Brendon McCullum and Kevon Cooper in an effective three-over spell for his side to romp into the final, wherein they went on to beat Guyana Amazon Warriors by nine wickets to lift the title.
29* (6) vs Barbados Tridents, Semi-final 2, CPL 2013
A 25-year-old Russell stepped up when it mattered for the Jamaica Tallawahs in the second semifinal of the inaugural edition, and it needed him just six balls to create a match-winning impact.
Chasing 150 against Kieron Pollard’s Barbados Tridents, Jamaica lost Chris Gayle early, before Kumar Sangakkara and Chadwick Walton revived the innings. Walton’s run-out would be followed by Danza Hyatt’s scratchy 12 off 18, leaving 33 required off 20. Enter Russell to smash a four and a six off Azhar Mahmood and Jason Holder early into his innings, with Sangakkara getting to his fifty in the process.
Russell would then go 6, 6, 6 off Mahmood to finish the job with nine balls remaining, for Gayle to lead his side to a championship win the following day.
50* (14) vs Kings, 2021
Russell smashed an unbeaten 50 off 14 with three fours and six sixes in a sensational blitz against Sr. Lucia Kings in Basseterre last year, making it the fastest ever fifty in CPL history. The right-hander strode out with his side at 199/3 with 17 balls remaining, and took left-arm seamers Wahab Riaz and Obed McCoy to the cleaners as the last two overs yielded 32 and 22 respectively to propel Tallawahs to 255/5 - the second highest total in CPL history.
Russell dismissed Andre Fletcher early in the second innings to set it up for a massive 120-run win.
58* (24), 1/10 & 3 catches vs Guyana Amazon Warriors, 2014
An all-time classic, the 2014 league encounter between the Tallawahs and the Warriors at Kingston turned out to be a last-ball thriller, with Russell clinching an epic win with a six off the final ball. The right-hander walked in at 62/5 in the 13th over, with his side needing 76 off 40 in a chase of 137 at that point. Veerasammy Permaul, Ronsford Beaton and Krishmar Santokie were given a run-around, as the equation would change from 75 off 36 to 55 off 24 to 13 off the final over.
Jimmy Neesham managed to get it down to 10 off 2, and Russell smashed a full-toss over cover for four, before a six over mid-wicket completed an epic heist.
Earlier, he’d finished 1/10 in a two over spell, while bagging three catches to dismiss Lendl Simmons, Denesh Ramdin and Neesham. What a player!
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