‘There Might be Two or Three of Them’: Gautam Gambhir on Bowlers Who Can Trouble Andre Russell in IPL 2020

The heartbeat of Kolkata Knight Riders, Andre Russell has been everyone’s favourite when it comes to T20 cricket. He has been in a great form since the last few seasons. The bowlers become mere audience whenever he comes in the form.

Russell’s destructive innings with the bat have helped KKR win various matches. West Indies all-rounder’s strike-rate has uniformly been more than 180 in the last three years for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Recently, David Hussey said that Andre Russell can score double hundred in IPL.

Here, Gautam Gambhir has his own say on the bowlers who might be proved problematic against the big-hitting Indies batsman in this season of Indian Premier League (IPL 2020).

“There might be two or three of them in the IPL who could trouble him but not beyond that. I don’t see bowlers other than probably someone like Jasprit Bumrah who can actually trouble Andre Russell,” Gambhir said on the Show on Star Sports.

Another thing which has been a topic to debate on is the position of Andre Russell bats at for KKR. It is evident from the last few seasons that Andre Russell usually comes to bat at No. 5 or 6. But Experts in Kolkata knight Riders thinks that he can be more destructive if comes at No.3 instead of No.5 or 6. Because in that case, he will have more balls to play with.

But with the presence of Eoin Morgan in this season, Kolkata knight Riders can face confusion as to how and where to utilise these two batsmen. They have to make choices efficiently.

“Obviously, if you are in great hitting form, quality of cricket and quality of bowling might be different but Andre Russell is a confidence player. If his confidence is high, then the bowling does not matter,” Gambhir said.

“If someone goes in such big-hitting form to the IPL, I want to see how KKR uses him. Because now they have Eoin Morgan as well, who is in great form. So if you have two such international players, who are in great hitting form, left-handed and right-handed, then you can be a little flexible.”

Gambhir supports the idea of KKR of sending Russell to bat anywhere below No.5, as it will allow the team to take full advantage of the Russell-Morgan duo.

“KKR should not send Andre Russell below No .5 in the batting order considering the form he is in. And the number should not matter, the overs should matter. Batting position is an overrated thing, six balls can change the entire match in T20 cricket,” he said.

“So at times, it is possible, that you have got such a good start, that you can send Russell even ahead of Morgan. It is not necessary to send him after Morgan. You can send him at No. 4 as well, it should be an over-oriented batting line-up rather than saying that you will not send him above No. 5 or No. 6.”