Andre Russell, who took 19 wickets in IPL 2024, has not bowled a single over this season.
Playing the third match for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, the star all-rounder Andre Russell will not be bowling once again.
In KKR’s last fixture, they restricted Rajasthan Royals to 151/9 in Guwahati. All of KKR’s bowlers, including Varun Chakravarthy and Harshit Rana, got at least a wicket each, but one notable absentee from the bowlers’ chart was Andre Russell, who didn’t get to bowl a single over. Russell also did not bowl in the IPL 2025 opener against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, which the defending champions lost by seven wickets.
Andre Russell has not suffered any injury setback recently. It seems like the move to not bowl the West Indian is a tactical one. Captain Ajinkya Rahane had in fact confirmed that Russell was fully fit, and the reason why he isn’t bowling is because of the depth of frontline bowlers.
“He is absolutely fit. You are not going to use all the weapons in one game. We have five frontline bowlers. They are wicket takers,” Rahane had said after the game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Kolkata.
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Russell was one of the top bowlers for KKR in IPL 2024, having taken 19 wickets from 15 matches. That was the same as his teammate Harshit Rana and just two behind spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who finished IPL 2024 with 21 wickets. Overall, Russell has played 128 IPL matches and taken 115 wickets at an economy of 9.36.
KKR had defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets in the final of IPL 2024 to win their third title. Kolkata Knight Riders’ title-winning skipper Shreyas Iyer, however, was released ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction. KKR secured Ajinkya Rahane for his base price of INR 1.50 crore at the IPL 2025 mega auction last year.
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