Andre Russell has scored 129 runs from 11 matches in IPL 2025 at a strike rate of 161
Kolkata Knight Riders’ great Andre Russell said he feels as young as 27 when asked about turning 37 and reaching the fag end of his illustrious career. While Russell’s contemporaries like Mumbai Indian’s batting coach Kieron Pollard had called time on their playing career in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the KKR man stayed with his playing career and is still hitting the big sixes.
The West Indies legend slammed a brutal 57 not out off 25 balls on Sunday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata against Rajasthan Royals as he propelled KKR to a fighting total of 206/4 in 20 overs.
It was the Jamaican’s first fifty of the season but came at a crucial time when KKR needed a win and stay alive in the playoffs race. On a pitch that heavily favoured batters, Russell smashed six sixes and four boundaries. The significant thing about the knock is that all of his boundaries came in the last five overs of the innings.
During the innings break, when asked about how he feels having turned 37 just this week, Russell replied:
“I think age is just a number still feeling like 27, happy with the performance tonight. Once we bowl smart tonight and execute our areas, I think it will be enough,” he said.
Russell started off slow, being cautious against Sri Lankan spin duo Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga, but the shackles were off after playing eight balls.
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“I was worried when I looked at the scoreboard, I was 2 off 8 deliveries, I never worry about dot balls but I realised the wicket was gripping, I didn’t want to take risk against Theekshana at the start so when he came back to bowl, I took him on. Spinners were on, my strong point is to get away the spinners as much as possible, they were bowling in good areas, Hasaranga was also bowling well, so I didn’t want to take them early on,” he added.
In reply to KKR’s big score, Rajasthan Royals’ top order collapsed in a heap as spinners Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali reduced them to 71/5.
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